Brian Taylor: Just how long will you wait for Labour’s change?

In that latter context, we might place the global mass IT outage. How to respond when the first instinctive reaction is to blink in mild or intense panic.

What can possibly be happening? Is not Information Technology the benign superpower, enhancing all our lives?

But let us also contemplate days passing. Looking at our new UK Government, will there be world enough and time to effect change, that ubiquitous buzzword? Or will anxious voters detect the winged chariot hurrying near – and get even more upset?

It is commonly said that new governments have a honeymoon period. I reckon the new UK team should count on no more than a weekend break. The voters will expect that promised change.

To be absolutely fair, the pledge came with caveats from the outset. It was repeatedly stated during the election that the economy, in particular, would take time to repair.

Then the issue of legacy. In Scotland, Labour assigns twin parts to that, dividing it between Westminster and Holyrood.

On the issue of UK economic stats, the new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, said they had “inherited the worst economic circumstances since the Second World War”.

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Brian Taylor: Explained – how Labour intend to mirror SNP strategy

Brian Taylor: This election was a cry of pain from an anguished electorate

No doubt, shortage of space prevented him from blaming the Covid pandemic, the global energy crisis and, indeed, the 2008 banking crash from which we are still suffering.

Instead, his implication was that the Tories were completely culpable, adding that the new Budget Responsibility Bill would prevent any future government from playing “fast and loose with the public finances”.

That aimed, of course, at Liz Truss who advanced plans for unfunded tax cuts and, in so doing, spooked the markets. We can trace Rishi Sunak’s defeat to that moment – and, admittedly, a few others.

However, alongside this helpful history lesson, there was a forward glance too. Apparently, UK ministers are “wasting no time” in fixing things.

Two points. The concept of time, certainly. But, secondly, no specification as to how long we might have to wait.

Turning to Scotland, I yield to no-one in my consistent admiration for the political skills of Dame Jackie Baillie, Labour’s deputy leader north of the Border. She is able, astute and amiable, with a sharp oratorical bite on occasion.

Dame Jackie has also surmounted setbacks (a core requirement in the People’s Party). In 2018, both she and Anas Sarwar were sacked from the Holyrood front bench by the new leader, Richard Leonard.

So she knows her stuff – and has experience dating back to the reconvening of the Scottish Parliament. However, I think she may soon have to script a new stump speech.

In a statement this week, she said Scotland had been “failed by two dysfunctional governments.” The UK Tories had brought “economic turmoil” and the SNP had led the NHS to “breaking point”.

So much, so familiar. Mr Sarwar has used this formula since assuming the leadership. Now, though, it is adapted to incorporate the recent election and the Holyrood contest to come.

Hence Dame Jackie says that “Labour has got rid of the Tory government”. But, pursuing the dual strategy I discussed here last week, she goes on to argue that devolved power also needs a new direction and a new party in charge (guess which one).

I intend to return, repeatedly, to that fundamental Holyrood battle between the incumbent SNP and the Labour Party, starting from third place but with high hopes.

For now though, let me draw attention to another element of the syllogism. The legacy from the departed Conservatives.

I understand, I get the concept. Labour won the election on the back of extreme discontent with the Tories. The UK Labour vote only rose fractionally. The Tories slumped calamitously.

However, it strikes me that repeatedly returning to that gloomy legacy is decidedly a wasting asset. Which brings me back to the issue of time.

(Image: Jackie Baillie and Anas Sarwar)

How long will voters acquiesce? Dame Jackie says Labour has “started the process of delivering change across the UK”. Which, of course, prompts the question: how long must we wait?

Again, to underline, a plea for patience is fundamental to the Labour offer – and has been at all points. Instead of excitement and zeal, the mantra is stability, reassurance. Once more, I understand why. Folk are scared and disquieted.

But for how long will voters continue to chide the Tories? When might they turn upon Labour, if delivery is perceived to be lacking or too sluggish?

The word of the week was “reset”. Applied to partnership with Europe at the Blenheim summit, to migrant co-operation with France, to relations with Holyrood.

Again, scarcely stimulating. Do stuff better. But perhaps that is the contemporaneous mood after years of turmoil.

The big test will be UK economic growth. I understand why the Scottish Secretary Ian Murray stressed the new workers’ rights package this week. It is measurable and in UK hands.

It will, says Mr Murray, mean “good jobs, with secure hours and fair pay”. I acknowledge the intrinsic aim of the measure.

But will it, of itself, generate growth? Or might it even run counter to that if costs rise for employers? For economic stimulus, one must look elsewhere – perhaps at green energy – and that will take time.

And the SNP? Still facing difficulties. After all, Jackie Baillie was responding to an apparent decline in popular trust in the Scottish Government.

And, once again, we witnessed the dual SNP strategy. Responding to the King’s Speech, Kate Forbes, the deputy First Minister, anticipated “early and meaningful engagement” on UK legislation as it impacted upon Scotland.

Meanwhile, Stephen Flynn, the party’s Westminster leader, assiduously adopted the role of tough cop, pointing out a list of items missing from what he called a “timid legislative programme”.

Indeed, Mr Flynn deliberately echoed Labour by noting that Scots had “voted for change” – without, thus far, receiving it.

Which brings me back to my primary question. How patient are you prepared to be?