The politics of Scotland are constantly shifting, and the current election campaign is no different from our complicated past. After the independence referendum where 45% of the population voted to exit the United Kingdom, in 2015’s general election the Scottish Labour party faced an electoral wipeout, losing all but one of its Westminster seats to the SNP. In 2017, Scottish Labour saw a small but significant revival, winning six seats across Glasgow, Lanarkshire and the Lothians. These seats were former Labour heartlands with high levels of deprivation, and a number also voted for independence in 2014.

Things have been difficult for the Scottish Labour party since 2014’s referendum, but many socialists across both sides of the independence debate would agree that its electoral obliteration was probably deserved. The pre-2016 politics of the Scottish party were in line with the UK’s uninspiring centrism – in response to systemic problems we offered minor changes.

Scottish Labour’s leadership after the referendum was won by arch right-winger Jim Murphy. This was the final straw for many socialists, and many of us abandoned Scottish Labour for what we us thought would be a permanent separation. As we have heard on the doorsteps; Labour lost their way and lost the working class.

The 2017 general election result was a shock to both Labour and the SNP, who didn’t expect a substantial Corbyn swing. The last election left unfinished business, 46 out of 59 Scottish seats are marginal constituencies, with many SNP and Tory seats hanging on a knife edge. Seats were defended by the SNP in Glasgow South West by just 60 votes, in Perth and North Perthshire 21 votes, and in North East Fife, as little as 2 votes. The politics of Scotland remain deeply divided, but there is a lot at stake in this election, and in its former heartlands the Labour party is now playing to win.

Campaigns in Glasgow South West, Motherwell and Wishaw and Edinburgh North and Leith, to name a few, are seeing large amounts of new activists out campaigning. Many of these activists have never campaigned for Labour before, and a considerable amount are former pro-independence campaigners. A combination of young hospitality workers, environmentalists, student activists and more seasoned socialists formerly disillusioned with Scottish Labour, have decided to put disagreements aside and back Labour in this election. Every day of this campaign, we’ve been having meaningful conversations with working class communities who have been left behind. I’ve seen first-hand that there is an appetite and a need for real change. 

One conversation that stuck with me was with a woman who worked as a classroom assistant in North Motherwell. She’d worked all her life, brought up both her children and now had two young grandchildren that she looked after regularly. She told me, “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I’ve worked all my life and still, we have nothing left to save. We manage, but we just manage and we have to save all year for Christmas.”

For me, this is exactly why this election is so important. So many communities across Scotland have been deeply damaged by austerity, and although many people struggle on, they live in constant fear of slipping below the poverty line. This is not only about a lack of a safety net, although that is important, so many jobs are critically underpaid and undervalued that in-work poverty has become commonplace.

A Labour government will not deliver socialism, or solve all of our political problems. What it can do, is reform a harsh and uncaring state, raise public sector pay and the minimum wage, and most importantly, give working class people back a sense of control and dignity. It will make all our lives much easier and richer, and this is something we must come together to fight for, regardless of our views on Scottish independence. The SNP’s manifesto, meanwhile, leaves much to be desired, with no mention of trade unions and little commitment to any form of redistribution of wealth, their campaign lacks ambition.

In 2017, the Scottish Labour campaign didn’t have much ground game and we won six MPs. This election, in many seats activists are doing three door knocking sessions a day, every day. New and enthusiastic activists are turning up daily, it’s clear that Labour are the change option in this election. But, regardless of the result, there is much still to be done. If we win these seats it will be by a small margin, and fundamentally this election serves to delay and not resolve constitutional tensions.

In 2017, the Scottish Labour party were still positioning themselves as an anti-independence party, as we witnessed in frustrating attempts to out-unionist the Tories. Over the past two years, small but significant changes have taken place, and the election of left leader Richard Leonard is certainly welcome. We must make no bones about it, if right-winger Anas Sarwar had won the Scottish leadership election, our campaign would look very different. The truth remains however, that we still are behind the English party in terms of political development. I am inspired by the new and dynamic activists who have become involved in this election campaign, the party belongs much more to them than the Jim Murphy’s of this world.

We hope that as many as 5 or 6 seats may turn red in this election, but it is clear, this election will be won and lost in the Leave voting areas of England. Although Scotland overwhelmingly supports Remain, we can empathise with Leave-voting English regions. We know a thing or do about political alienation.

A loss is not reason to abandon the Scottish Labour party, the changes that we’ve seen have been substantial, and with some hard work it’s clear that the party can be transformed for the working class. This campaign has allowed new faces to come through and empowered local activists, and regardless of the result this must continue. The Labour Party is nothing without the labouring class, and if former Labour voters decide to come back to us in this election, we must not take this lightly. A socialist future is bright and on the horizon, but only if we listen to the workers.