Why did Labour lose Scotland?

Crumbs, so before I start - and in full disclosure, as a student I was a member of the SNP and later joined (and am still a member of the) Lib Dems but I don't have a tribal or vitriolic dislike of either the Tories (I know many nice one nation ones) or Labour (I also know many nice old and new labour people) so stating that:. read more

Labour didn't lose Scotland: the SNP won it. After losing the independence referendum 45% to 55%, the SNP regrouped and realised that 45% support would win them most of the parliamentary seats. They harnessed their supporters' disappointment to this new goal. read more

Labour had the power, this became the holy grail, rather than what they did with the power. Many would stay with them, just happy to keep the Tories out. Many who thought things through further than this would not. In Scotland voters had somewhere else to go and in time the SNP demolished it's tartan Tory label and won many of them over. read more

Labour is losing votes in all regions and to all parties for different reasons - to Scottish nationalists, to anti-immigration Ukippers, to southern conservatives, to anti-austerity Greens. There is no obvious strategy to address them all. read more