FAILURE to learn the lessons of the Scottish independence referendum as well as the Labour leadership contest could result in Britain leaving the European Union, Jim Murphy has warned in his first public comments since standing down as Scottish Labour leader.
In an article for the Left-leaning New Statesman magazine, the former Scottish Secretary noted how the pro-EU campaign might “not be able to count on Nigel Farage being an Alex Salmond – a useful, vote-losing villain – to help win” the forthcoming in/out poll.
He complained that Britain was now living through what he described as a “period of post-truth politics”.
The former MP said he experienced this phenomenon as he undertook his famous 100 towns in 100 days tour of Scotland during the referendum campaign.
“A belief system grew that cheerfully shot the messenger and relegated opponents’ truths to malignly motivated opinion. We heard a quiet echo of that attitude during the Labour leadership contest. And it will be back again for the EU vote, this time with a patriotic, outsider’s vengeance.”
Commenting on the Labour leadership contest, Mr Murphy noted how it did not matter that Corbynomics was “not fully costed”, the new party leader’s supporters “saw him as a cause, not a candidate”.
“For the EU referendum, we have to come to terms with a politics in which wishful thinking can morph into a popular orthodoxy. The era of impeccably researched documents winning the day on their own is gone and gone for good,” said the former Cabinet Minister.
Looking back, he admitted that Scottish Labour should have “made a case against the Nationalist shibboleths about oil, the Barnett formula and defence much earlier and then more often. Instead, we implied - aye, we know that’s what you think but if you vote SNP, you’ll get the Tories”.
While he maintained that it was not too late for Scottish Labour to recover, it was “well past midnight” to stop the current populist outburst in UK Labour.
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