Leader comment: Richard Leonard's vision is a threat to the SNP

NOT so very long ago, certain parts of Scotland were all but no-go areas for Labour politicians.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard. Pic: Jane Barlow/PA

After the heat of 2014’s independence referendum, the party that once dominated Scottish politics found itself rejected in parts of the country where it might once have weighed rather than counted votes. The SNP succeeded in persuading many voters that the participation of Labour politicians in the cross-party Better Together campaign meant they were simply “Red Tories”. Having planted this idea, the nationalists then - despite their cautious, centrist approach to government - proclaimed themselves the true custodians of traditional Labour values.

But, perhaps, Labour’s time in the Scottish political wilderness is not to last as long as expected. Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, the Labour Party has - for good or ill - swiftly re-established itself as a radical left-wing force. Nobody - not even Alex Salmond at his most gallus - would suggest Mr Corbyn is any kind of Tory, red or otherwise.

Today, the recently elected leader of Scottish Labour, Richard Leonard, will outline his leadership plans. By his side, when he stands to speak in Glasgow will be Jeremy Corbyn. The SNP might have taken control of the City Council, Glasgow might have voted Yes in 2014, but Mr Corbyn will not - we suspect - face the sort of welcome that might have greeted the likes of Jim Murphy or Kezia Dugdale.

Nicola Sturgeon’s speeches have her as a traditional left-winger, the sort of radical who’s wont to remark that “I didn’t leave Labour, Labour left me”, but Mr Corbyn, with his appetite for higher taxation and re-nationalisation, is the real thing. Mr Leonard is a relative unknown in Scottish politics but if he can swiftly establish himself as Corbyn’s man, then he may hold appeal among voters who turned to the SNP in the search for something radical.

We are far from convinced by Mr Leonard’s politics but his election as Scottish Labour leader certainly poses a problem for the First Minister. How can she convincingly claim to be keeping the “Old Labour” flame alive when she’s up against a Corbynite brand of politics? With a resurgent Tory Party gathering up votes on the centre-right and Scottish Labour now firmly on the left, the SNP is under attack from both sides. We’re not sure the nationalists’ middle-of-the-road approach to policy will serve them especially well in the current political climate.