‘After being spat on by SNP supporters, I understand depth of rivalry with Labour’

DOUGLAS Alexander has blamed the simmering bad blood between Labour and the SNP on the two parties viewing their rivals as a “mortal threat”.

Mr Alexander, whose sister Wendy had a short-lived spell as Labour leader at Holyrood before being forced to quit over a party donations scandal, said he would “never forget” how she had been treated at the hands of the Nationalists.

And he said he understood from his own experience how deep-seated were the feelings of “antipathy” between Labour and SNP.

In his speech today, he will say: “In my first campaign for elected office, in Perth in 1995, I well remember being spat upon – literally – by Nationalist supporters. And, as a brother, more than as a politician, I will never forget how the Nationalists – from researchers to MSPs and ministers – treated my sister during her time as leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament.

“But I also know that the deep feelings felt between the parties also reflect an underlying electoral truth: that Scottish Labour and the Scottish Nationalists regard each other as a mortal threat – each seeing the other as the only party in Scotland strong enough to stop the achievement of their party’s goals. We have our own beliefs and objectives and oppose the SNP only insofar as their existence obstructs these. We should never lose sight of our own wider goals or the Nationalists’ ultimate irrelevance to that struggle.”