In the 2015 general election in Scotland we were lambasted as ‘red Tories’. It’s a bitter irony, then, to be beaten by the real ‘blue Tories’, who, it had been alleged were toxic and ‘dead’ in Scotland.

First though there is some good news to help point the way forward. The Scottish National party bandwagon is not invincible. While Labour was not the beneficiary this time, despite some notable results such as our campaign in Edinburgh Southern electing Daniel Johnson, we need to stop behaving like rabbits in headlights. We went into this election with our heads down. This coloured our tactics. But more importantly, if we do not sound and act positive and confident, why should we expect voters to back us?

There were clear signs of anti-SNP voters coalescing in a tactical way. In some places the route was clearer than others – a Liberal Democrat vote in Edinburgh Western and North East Fife, a Labour vote in Edinburgh Southern and East Lothian, a Tory vote in Aberdeenshire West and Ayr. A key part of our campaign was that it was time to move on from the constant constitutional wrangle, and start using the expanded powers of the Scottish parliament to improve people’s lives. In the event arguments over independence and if and when there should be #IndyRef2 were still dominant, but the election results mean that another referendum during the course of this parliament is unlikely. This gives us the opportunity to be heard on our arguments on what can be done by our stronger parliament.

In Edinburgh Southern, which has a middle-class electorate largely employed in the public sector (university, schools, NHS) we found on the doors that many people were critical of the state of public services in Scotland, and by extension critical of the SNP government. However, sharing our critical analysis is not necessarily the same as sharing our solution. The SNP nurtured the idea that we Scots are particularly leftwing and in both 2014 and 2015 this was used as an argument for independence – ‘ Vote Yes – get rid of the Tories forever’ was a poster slogan in the referendum. Some of us have said for a long time that this was more myth than substance, citing for example Scottish Social Attitude Surveys showing similar trends to the rest of the United Kingdom. Labour ran on a proposal for restoring the 50p for the highest earners, increasing income tax by 1p and overhauling the council tax system to make it much more progressive. Thinktanks demonstrated that this would raise substantially greater revenue enabling us to improve public services. While we were saying this, the SNP moved smartly onto the middle ground, with much more cautious proposals on both income tax and council tax. In part this was part of a tactics to enable them to go on saying that nothing can really improve until we are independent, but it also demonstrated a shrewd, almost New Labour, understanding of the need to win elections from the middle ground.

In practice, this time around the SNP has acted very much in the way it actually talked, only camouflaged by left rhetoric. But public services are struggling as a result. The SNP has lulled people into thinking that high quality services can be achieved on low taxes. If the analysis is right that we lost in 2015 because we were ‘red Tories’ and ‘austerity-lite’ then we should have been picking up votes all over the country, not losing them. Edinburgh Southern was the only constituency where the Labour vote went up from 2011 (by eight per cent), but it may be the exception that proves the rule. We found many people who liked our 1p tax proposal, especially those who came into regular contact with public services through their own work, through their children or experience of the social (lack of) care system.

There has been no ‘Corbyn bounce’ in Scotland. We met people who liked our new leader, but many of them made it clear that they would still be voting SNP. They had come to believe that the best way of achieving what they wanted is through independence. At the other end of the spectrum there were people who had voted tactically for Ian Murray last year, giving our new UK leadership as a reason for not doing so this year. It was by no means the only reason, but it did come up regularly.

Journalists love a ‘terminal decline’ story. Some of our own members are indulging in a similar narrative. But, remember, that is what used to be said about the Tories. The people of Scotland need better than a complacent government which has delivered a decline in educational standards and a severe rationing of social care for our frail elderly. We need to get back in the game.

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Sheila Gilmore is former member of parliament for Edinburgh East. She tweets @SheilaGilmore49

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