Corbyn made a Scottish Labour recovery a key goal. How's that going?
Amid a flurry of polls all pointing to disaster for Labour without a change of course, the picture in Scotland is a complete disaster.
In August of last year during the last leadership contest, Jeremy Corbyn identified a recovery in Scotland as one of his key goals. For all the efforts put in by Kezia Dugdale north of the border, the evidence is that despite the rhetoric, Corbyn has become a handicap to Labour’s chances of a Scottish revival.
YouGov polling has given Corbyn a net approval rating across Scotland of -36, and -47 among 2015 Labour voters. Among 2015 Labour voters, just 19 per cent think he is doing well – a fall of 14 points since early May.
His national numbers are, YouGov notes ‘boosted by the fact that more SNP voters (31 per cent) think he is doing well than Labour voters.’ Behind Corbyn, Kezia Dugdale has a net approval rating of -15.
Contrast that with Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson, who has a net approval rating of +31 and Nicola Sturgeon with a net approval rating of +34.
Theresa May meanwhile enjoys a considerable leads when voters in Scotland were asked about key characteristics. 66 per cent see her as strong; 62 per cent say she is competent and 53 per cent say that she is in control.
The new Prime Minister has commanding leads in key characteristics – she is seen as strong by 66 per cent.
The only area in which May performs poorly is on likeability, with more people thinking she is dislikeable (35 per cent vs 30 per cent).
With figures like these, it’s no wonder that Owen Smith has raised concerns about Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to engage in the arguments about national identify in Scotland, Wales and England which are so vital to the future of the United Kingdom as it currently stands.
Ed Jacobs is a contributing editor at Left Foot Forward
See: Nearly a third of Labour voters prefer Theresa May to Jeremy Corbyn
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14 Responses to “Jeremy Corbyn’s approval ratings hit the floor in Scotland”
Alex Wilson
This constant attack on workers from Left Foot Forward has to stop. You should rename the blog Neo-Liberal Foot Forward.
MONI
For Eric – http://wingsoverscotland.com/the-independence-dividend/
christina evans
wonder why tories are in second place and labour trailing third. suspect SNP are like marmite, people either love them or hate them. Tories are SNP opposition, they are party in power and people who dont support SNP will support tories.. In Scotland, its between the tories and SNP. It is like Liberal democrats in England, they are not percieved as a threat, it is between tories and labour, in scotland its between Tories and SNP
Peter A Bell
So British Labour’s sordid internecine warfare continues. Intent as he is on sniping at Corbyn with his wee opinion poll gun, what Ed Jacobs fails to recognise is that it is all becoming less and less relevant to Scottish politics with every passing day. British Labour in Scotland (BLiS) signed its own death warrant when it decided to go into an alliance with the Tories. It sealed its fate when it chose to put the British state and its structures of power, privilege and patronage before the needs, aspirations and priorities of Scotland’s people. Anybody who imagines that a change of boss is going to reverse the plummeting fortunes of “Scottish Labour” or help its hapless “leader” is seriously out of touch with Scotland’s increasingly distinctive political culture.
And there’s a short passage in the article which seems to confirm the lack of awareness that afflicts its author. Ed Jacobs offers the following odd little gobbet,
“For all the efforts put in by Kezia Dugdale north of the border, the evidence is that despite the rhetoric, Corbyn has become a handicap to Labour’s chances of a Scottish revival.”
Which seems to imply that Dugdale has been working on her boss’s behalf. It appears to suggest that she has been actively supporting Jeremy Corbyn, and that his decline in popularity is despite her “rhetoric”. It may also be taken as suggesting that Dugdale has been doing something to lift BLiS out of the doldrums. None of which bears any relation to the reality here on the ground in Scotland. Dugdale is as guilty as anyone in British Labour of disloyalty to the party’s democratically elected leader. And if she’s been active in making her branch office operation more effective then her efforts have evidently been in vain, and have certainly gone unnoticed by this commentator.
It’s unclear what is going to happen to British Labour in England. But here in Scotland it is very evident that there is going to be no “revival”. British Labour in Scotland is finished.
John MacKinnon
As Alex Wilson indicates, this blog is badly mis-named. I came to it expecting some leftist views, but I have been sadly disappointed. If you don’t like his suggestion, at least make it “Right Foot Forward” or “Right-pretending-to-be-left Foot Forward” to avoid further confusion.