Labour candidate Yvette Cooper heads for Scotland

LABOUR leadership contender Yvette Cooper is taking her campaign to Scotland, where the party was almost wiped out at the general election.

Yvette Cooper says Labour want to understand why Scotland voted against them. Picture: BBC/Getty

The party was swept away as the SNP landslide left just a single Labour MP north of the border and Ms Cooper said she wanted to understand the “profound nature of the challenge we face” in Scotland.

Ms Cooper said it “breaks my heart to see a shift towards the politics of separation” ahead of the visit to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

She said it was important to understand why voters had deserted Labour in favour of Nicola Sturgeon’s party.

“I’m determined that Labour fully understands the profound nature of the challenge we face in Scotland. That’s why I’m meeting people who voted against us in May as well as party members who worked so hard,” she said.

“But I’m also determined to rebuild and to win again. Labour can only win in the United Kingdom if we win in central Scotland as well as Middle England.

“And I still believe that we can do this through the enduring importance of our Labour values, starting with the fight for Labour in the Holyrood elections in 2016. I want to see a strong, vibrant Scottish Labour holding the SNP to account in Holyrood, with a strong Labour opposition taking the fight to the Tories in Westminster.”

The shadow home secretary will also meet Labour members of the Scottish Parliament as she steps up her bid to replace Ed Miliband.

She said: “Labour has to win again in Scotland - that’s why I am making my first trip here in the early days of this Labour leadership campaign.

“I was born in Inverness and I worked for John Smith many years ago. His strong moral values, his faith in equality and public service had a big impact on me.

“So it breaks my heart to see a shift towards the politics of separation, especially in communities which care so deeply about solidarity and the importance of tackling inequality. I think we should care just as much about children in poverty or problems facing families in Lanarkshire as Leeds.”

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