Scottish Labour’s promises won’t break through voter apathy

It is often said that it would be difficult to slide a piece of paper between the policy platforms of Scottish Labour and the SNP. And so Labour’s manifesto launch today in Edinburgh proved.

The document contains little in the way of new announcements and the speech by leader Anas Sarwar was more of what we’ve heard from him in recent months. This SNP has failed after almost 20 years in power, he says, so it’s time to give him a turn.

But Sarwar struggles to point out what exactly his party would do much differently from the current Scottish Government. Commitments in the manifesto are all familiar, some of them even mirroring existing government policy, and where there are differences, they tend to only be minor tweaks.

That is why Labour’s approach to this election campaign has been to focus on the SNP itself. And there is plenty to criticise. The NHS, despite some recent improvements, is under major pressure. Infrastructure projects such as A9 dualling and ferries promised years ago remain undelivered. The attainment gap in schools is stubbornly wide. Child poverty targets will be missed; climate targets have been missed; NHS waiting time targets were also missed. 

And that’s to say nothing of the SNP’s inner turmoil. From former chief executive Peter Murrell being charged with embezzlement (he has made no plea and is waiting for his case to be heard) and questions over the handling of complaints against convicted sex offender Jordan Linden, to accusations of Angela Constance and Michael Matheson making misleading statements in the chamber, it’s far from a shining record.

These are good reasons to be wary of handing the SNP another five years in power. Indeed, Labour’s tactic is reminiscent of the one which won them Downing Street from the Conservatives two years ago. And back then, the party didn’t have to do much to convince the electorate it was the better option. It could win with a policy-light campaign.

Yet now, Scottish Labour’s pronouncement that “Scotland needs change” and they are the ones to deliver it rings hollow. Few Scots feel much of a difference to their day-to-day lives since Starmer came to power. Sarwar’s retort is that this is a devolved election about devolved issues, not the occupant of Number 10. That may be true, but what the Labour government is and isn’t doing from Westminster is a template for what the electorate might expect from a Scottish Labour government. On that measure, the party has been found wanting.

I once put it to a senior staff member that voters are hearing a lot about why they should not vote for the Nationalists in May, but very little to persuade them to vote for Labour instead. I was told to wait and see what the party had in store.

Well, now we have the manifesto. There’s plenty to like in its pages – breakfast clubs in all schools, a mental health emergency service, plans to bring derelict properties back into use – but it contains nothing groundbreaking. Nothing hugely refreshing. Nothing much to distinguish it from the SNP.

Labour’s argument is more about personnel than policy. They would pursue many of the same aims as the SNP, but they claim they would deliver more and better simply because they are Labour and not the SNP.

In a climate where voters are scunnered and trust in politicians is thin on the ground anyway, it is clearly not enough to point to your opponent’s failings. Difficult as it may have been given the anchor that is the UK Government, Scottish Labour needed to use this moment to prove they were different and offered something different. This manifesto will do little to move the dial.