Scotland Watch … SNP Revival?

New Statesman, Chris Deerline, 19th November 2017

“Richard Leonard (new Scots Leader TF)… ran on a Corbynite prospectus that comfortably saw off his centre-left challenger Anas Sarwar… Its still not clear where Scottish Labour stands on the EU or or the Union…. Perhaps Corbyn’s relative success in June’s General Election made this inevitable… Little wonder his campaign was supported by Momentum and its Scottish sister the Campaign for Socialism….  Leonard was backed by 51.8% of the 17,664 individual members who voted in the contest, compared to 48.2% who supported Sarwar. Among the unions – the affiliated supporters section – Leonard secured 77.3% of the 4,242 votes cast, while Sarwar got 22.7%. Sarwar edged the ‘registered supporters’ section with 51.9%, while Leonard got 48.1%!

Labour List 1st February 2018

“Richard Leonard suffered a disappointment today when new polling showed Scottish Labour slipping back in the race against the SNP. A Survation survey showed Labour 12 points behind when people in Scottish constituencies were asked about their  Westminster voting intention. The results showed Labour dipping 2 points to 27% and Nicola Sturgeon’s party rising by the same margin…. Leonard was widely seen as having the backing of Jeremy Corbyn’s office…..

….”If the Survation poll is correct it would mean the SNP winning back 9 of the 21 seats they lost in last year’s general election… The Tories were trailing in third place (24%) and the Lib Dems showed no sign of a recovery (7%).”