Contra mistaken notions of ‘unionist unity’, the Opposition can reach sections of the current SNP vote that the Tories cannot.
Also: Gove should beware Brown’s constitutional anti-wisdom; Davies makes way for Davies; and MSPs compel evidence over Salmond row.
The party needs to reach parts of the pro-UK electorate that the Tories cannot. Under Leonard, it has signally failed to do so.
In a self-repudiating speech, he sets out his plan to ‘make the case for the United Kingdom’ by making it as insignificant to our lives as he possibly can.
An embattled Scottish local authority is trying to bypass Holyrood’s stranglehold and appeal to the city’s other government. Time for the Union to prove itself.
SNP ministers are blocking witnesses and withholding legal advice. Can the opposition capitalise?
Also: true scale of the Irish Protocol’s impact on commerce, and Stormont’s ‘rank incompetence’, show how Ulster unionism needs a refresh.
He has a good eye for political openings, and Labour’s woes might have created a space for an avowedly left-wing, pro-UK figure.
The Nationalists’ campaign has been so successful that leading pro-UK campaigners shy away from saying ‘Britain’. That isn’t sustainable.
Also: Welsh Government back SNP in fight over post-EU powers; SNP loyalist appointed to head ‘independent’ inquiry as party muzzles MSPs; and more.
It seems to gaze upon the SNP’s seemingly unstoppable rise and conclude that Sturgeon’s party is doing something right.
Also: Galloway shakes up Holyrood battle with new unionist alliance; DUP wracked by major rebellion over Stormont reform; and more.
By taking refuge once again in his party’s only idea, Starmer puts himself behind even Gordon Brown in his constitutional thinking.
At one point he even started firing questions back at me from the stage, putting paid to the moderators’ hopes of continuing the Q&A.
Playing for second place is not good enough. It may be difficult to deliver, but an expansive pro-UK electoral alliance is our best hope.