Pat McFadden’s comments will ‘haunt’ Labour’s general election campaign, says SNP MP

The SNP has said comments by Labour strategist Pat McFadden that his party’s electoral victories are “rarities” will come to “haunt” the party in the run-up to the general election. 

Labour’s national campaign coordinator told Holyrood that the idea of British politics being a pendulum “is a myth”, pointing out there have been three elected Labour prime ministers since Ramsay MacDonald.  

SNP MP David Linden said the comment “blows a huge hole” in Labour’s campaign in Scotland. 

Linden argued that Scotland is “trapped in a damaging cycle of Tory governments” and suggested the admission by McFadden highlighted that Labour are not able to oust the Tories from Scotland.  

He added that the only way to “get rid of Tory governments for good [is] with independence”. 

Linden said: "This admission blows a huge hole in the Labour campaign in Scotland. By admitting that Labour governments are 'rarities', Pat McFadden has confirmed a central proposition of the SNP and the case for independence - that Scotland usually gets lumped with Tory governments we don't vote for. 

"This will haunt Labour's campaign in Scotland all the way through to polling day. 

"Voting SNP is the way to make Scotland Tory-free at the general election - and it's the way to get rid of Tory governments for good with independence. 

"Labour are throwing away their policies under Tory pressure at Westminster. And they are now admitting that Scotland will always be trapped in a damaging cycle of Tory governments for as long as we are stuck under Westminster control."