Scottish Labour MP branded 'arrogant' after claiming party has made 'strong start to government'

Graeme Downie, the Labour MP for Dunfermline & Dollar, argued his party had a strong start to government, but needed to construct a better narrative to show voters why they had taken certain decisions.

Mr Downie’s comments come in a week that saw a new Survation Westminster poll show the SNP now lead the Labour Party by nine points.

Writing in Parliament's magazine, The House, Mr Downie claimed the “incredible work” the UK Government had done needed a “stronger narrative”.

He said: “My party must get better at communicating. While new governments are rarely, if ever, able to quickly meet the expectations of the electorate, some of the criticism this Labour government has faced has been down to how we have communicated our decisions and we must all do better.

“People want to see change, to feel change. That means a narrative and a story people can relate to and be part of, something that isn’t possible in any announcement that begins, ‘billions of pounds’.

“It is incredible looking back on the list of things delivered by this Labour government. Proper pay for frontline staff so they can look after us; compensation for victims of the infected blood scandal, Post Office Horizon and those from the LGBT community who suffered discrimination in our armed forces; investment in renewable electricity and energy security; a more effective immigration system; fixing the injustice of the Mineworkers Pension Scheme; and committing more funding to support Ukraine.

“The reason, I believe, the latter two decisions have overshadowed the incredible good work is that we have not clearly communicated a sense of purpose or mission. We cannot expect the public to join the dots and discern our mission on their own. We must be clearer.

“This government should unashamedly say we are focussing our efforts on the next generation. After being slammed by external forces from the financial crash to the pandemic, the opportunity gap between those who left the workforce in the mid-2000s and those who joined at the same time, as well as those who have followed, is gaping and ever-widening.”

The SNP labelled the comments “arrogant”. SNP Westminster Economy spokesperson Dave Doogan said: "Yesterday we had Labour's Scottish Secretary trying to blame the public for Labour's collapse in the polls, today the Scottish people are being arrogantly told that the Labour Party's only problem is that they just aren't communicating their successes well enough. It's increasingly obvious that this UK Labour government has become out of touch in record time.

"Labour's real problem is that the public are crystal clear about what they communicated and promised to win votes before the election and their broken promises when they got into government. They promised to cut energy bills but they have gone up by £149. They promised to protect pensioners but have removed their winter fuel payments. They promised to support the Waspi women but have betrayed them. Labour promised ‘change’ but they have already lost control.

"If Labour are desperately looking for someone to blame for their collapse in support - they should start by looking in the mirror.”