(from last week) Starmer rules out even informal post-election deal with Lib Dems

[Emrys]

1. As mentioned, he also, predictably, ruled out any sort of arrangement at all with the SNP,

which is likely to continue to be the third-largest party in parliament. This stance has been reinforced by other party spokes:

Here's Labour's leader of its Scottish branch last year:

Link to tweet

Times Radio
@TimesRadio

"No ifs, no buts, no deals with the SNP."

Anas Sarwar, leader of the Scottish Labour Party, says Sir Keir Starmer will not make a deal with the SNP to get into number 10.

@MattChorley | @AnasSarwar

[Twitter video]

Here's Siobhan McDonagh MP a few weeks ago:

Link to tweet

𝚘𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
@ochilwarrior

Siobhain McDonagh let’s the cat out the bag. Anas Sarwar pretends to despise Tories when in fact he’s collaborating with them to lock out the SNP #PoliticsLive #Indyref2023 #LabourLies

[Twitter video]

Nevertheless, more pragmatic Scottish Labour councillors have entered some power sharing deals with the SNP (and also with the Tories, by the way).

This contrasts starkly with the opinions of Labour's most functional leader of the moment, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford:

Link to tweet

Europe for Scotland
@ScotlandEurope
"The SNP won an election on the basis that they would seek another referendum. How can that be denied to the Scottish people?"

Welsh First Minister @MarkDrakeford, a Unionist, says what all democrats must agree with. You can respect the Union but you must respect democracy more

[Twitter video]

As a Scottish voter, you may be able imagine how this feels - my Westminster vote is apparently worse than second-class, and Starmer and his crew don't give a fig for my opinions, I'll just have to lump whatever he or any other future government decide to do. There is no way I'll ever vote Labour again, let alone revitalize my long-ago membership. The only way to have my vote respected at a national level is to vote for independence if and when I get the chance. Existing Scottish Labour members and voters may go the same way:

Scottish Labour faces referendum dilemma as polling shows a third of [Labour] voters support IndyRef2
EXCLUSIVE: Leaked internal polling shows Labour is more divided on IndyRef2 than the SNP and the Tories.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/scottish-labour-faces-referendum-dilemma-26099335

Other polls have shown support among Scottish Labour voters for a second independence referendum as high as 40%.

This may all be redundant anyway. Given the scale of the revolt Starmer's experiencing among his backbenchers, how completely out of touch his recent stances on other issues have been, and his utter lack of anything resembling charisma or leadership, he may not keep his post much longer.