Scottish Labour MPs call for UK Government to 'tell a better story' on election anniversary

Daily Record

4 hours ago

EXCLUSIVE: Speaking to the Record, Scottish Labour MPs have given their verdicts on a difficult first year in charge for Keir Starmer.
Scottish Labour MPs have called for the UK Government to 'tell a better story' and 'learn quickly from our mistakes' a year on from the party's historic election victory.
Graeme Downie said the Labour Government must 'keep on doing' things like increasing the minimum wage and helping people with energy bills.
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Fellow MP Joani Reid said the Government 'haven't moved as quickly or delivered as effectively as I'd have liked in some areas' but said there has been 'genuine progress'.
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Labour secured a landslide win over the Tories last year - with Keir Starmer becoming the first Labour Prime Minister for 14 years.
Scots also overwhelmingly backed Labour, with the party winning 37 of the 57 constituencies north of the border.
However, the Government has been dogged by criticism over policies like cutting winter fuel payments and proposing cuts to disability benefits.
Starmer's poll rating has tanked and Labour are at risk from Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
Speaking to the Record, Scottish Labour MPs gave their verdict on a difficult first year.
Dunfermline and Dollar MP Downie said: "We need to tell a better story focussed on what we are doing for people, not just large numbers of investment so when people feel they have more money in their pocket they know it is thanks to this UK Labour government.
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"We have already delivered a pay rise for 200,000 of the lowest paid, extending £150 off energy bills to over 500,000 households and savings on petrol by extending the fuel duty cut as well as putting money in the pocket of former miners by solving the injustice of their pensions.
"Those are the kinds of things we need to keep on doing because people will feel the benefit."
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East Kilbride and Strathaven MP Reid said: 'One year into a Labour government, it hasn't been easy. We inherited huge economic challenges made tougher by global instability. People already know the mess we took on; they don't want politicians complaining about how difficult the job is—and frankly, I don't like doing it. We applied to run the country, so it's our responsibility to get on with fixing it.
'We haven't been perfect, and we haven't moved as quickly or delivered as effectively as I'd have liked in some areas. But we have made genuine progress.
'In East Kilbride, we've protected hundreds of jobs by saving the international development office from Tory closure.
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'Thousands of local people received a decent pay rise when we increased the minimum wage in April. And nationally, we've begun delivering on our promises: a proper new deal for working people, tackling insecure work, and laying foundations for a fairer economy.
'Scotland has huge opportunities ahead—especially in defence industries and clean energy jobs. But to seize them fully, we need change at Holyrood too, so we can fix the NHS and education system after years of neglect.
'People rightly want results, not excuses. Our task now is clear: deliver faster, learn quickly from our mistakes, and keep working to build the country people deserve.'
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MPs believe there have been positives over the last year, including a rise in the minimum wage and a boost to workers' rights.
They also believe Starmer has risen to the challenge on foreign affairs.
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Western Isles MP Torcuil Crichton said it was important that the Government focuses on the cost of living from now on.
He said: " It's going to be defined by three things: living standards, energy and international affairs.
"On living standards we've still got a job to do... Let's double down on improving people's standard of living.
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"Let's get the energy transition right by making sure there are jobs there for people and that communities benefit as well, because there are massive profits being made here and we can use that to change people's lives.
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Glenrothes MP Richard Baker, who initially backed plans to sink the Government welfare reform. said the party needed to be 'relentless' about getting its message across.
He said: "What we want to do in terms of the party in Westminster is ensuring we are relentless at getting across the positive things we are doing and focusing on where we are making achievements which really matter to the folk of Scotland, like increasing minimum wage, workers' rights, wages going up faster than the cost of living, growing the economy.
"There are loads of good things happening. It's about focusing more on that and making sure we are relentless about that message."
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SNP Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn said: 'Keir Starmer's first year in office speaks for itself – a litany of broken promises, u-turns, scandals, and failures on the economy that have removed optimism from a public who were so desperate for change.
"Voters were promised a new direction but instead they got more of the same Westminster cuts and failure. Families and small businesses hammered by tax hikes, and soaring bills - with millions of people feeling worse off whilst being lectured that things are getting better.
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'The UK economy has been downgraded, public finances have deteriorated, unemployment is up, poverty is at record levels and the cost of food, energy and household bills have risen by hundreds of pounds on Keir Starmer's watch.
"When people look back on the Labour Party's year in office they will remember the cuts to disabled people and pensioners' winter fuel payments, the betrayal of WASPI women and children in poverty, rising energy bills and food prices, and a Prime Minister who took thousands of pounds of designer clothes and freebies while imposing austerity cuts on the rest of us.
"That is not the new direction people in Scotland wanted nor deserved."