Jackie Baillie says Keir Starmer ‘not a liability’ in run-up to Scottish election

Keir Stamer will not undermine Scottish Labour’s election chances, Jackie Baillie has said.  

Asked whether the prime minister was an asset or a liability, the Scottish Labour deputy leader said: “Keir Starmer is not a liability.”

Baillie was appearing on a panel at Holyrood’s Connections 2025 event in Edinburgh alongside Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain and Scottish Conservatives deputy leader Rachael Hamilton.

Baillie's party has gone from being ahead in the Scottish Parliament election polls before the general election last year to now being behind the SNP. A Scottish Labour Party source told Holyrood during the party’s conference last month that the prime minister can’t win Scottish Labour the election next year, but he can lose it for them.   

Many political analysts see this regression in the polls to be a direct consequence of actions taken by Starmer and his government during the first eight months in charge. This includes cuts to welfare spending which chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to set out in her spring statement on Wednesday.

Baillie justified the reforms, and said if left unchecked the bill for disability benefits would rise by over £20bn by 2030. 

“This is unsustainable,” she told the audience at the event in the Fruitmarket Gallery.

Asked whether the party’s problem had been communication since it came to power at Westminster, she said: “I do accept that”. 

“I think we led with the chin, and we talked about cuts before we talked about getting people into work. 

“I would have done it the other way around, frankly.” 

Earlier in the evening, polling expert John Curtice, told the audience it was “almost inevitable that the SNP are going to be the core of the next government”. He said that “without fundamental change” the Labour party would not be the largest party at Holyrood.  

Curtice said the “real question” of the election next year would be whether the SNP formed a minority administration or would be able to do a deal with the Scottish Greens.