Labour does not yet have a candidate in around a third of Scottish seats at Westminster – including in every constituency currently held by the Conservatives.
Polling indicates the next general election will see a tight race between Anas Sarwar’s party and the SNP.
Despite Labour opposing the nationalist’s plans to regard a majority of Scottish seats for the SNP as a mandate to begin independence negotiations, it currently has no candidate named in 18 of the 59 constituencies in Scotland.
Labour has confirmed it will stand a hopeful in every single seat.
But the SNP says the lack of announced candidates – particularly in seats held by the Conservatives – shows it is not up to kicking the Tories out of government.
‘An embarrassment for Labour’
SNP MP Chris Law said: “With labour having failed to select a candidate in around a third of seats across Scotland, it’s clear that the SNP are the only party that can win the seven Tory seats in Scotland.
“This is the latest embarrassment for the Labour Party in Scotland.
“Anas Sarwar can’t even pretend he is trying to get rid of the Tories when Labour has no candidates in any of the Tory held seats in Scotland
“Voting SNP at the Westminster election is the only way to defeat Scottish Tory MPs and make Scotland’s voice heard at Westminster.”
The intervention hints at the emerging battlegrounds for the election, with Labour expected to take the fight to the SNP across central Scotland.
Meanwhile, several seats in the North East are predicted to be a contest largely between the SNP and the Tories.
The constituencies where no Labour candidate has yet been announced are:
- Aberdeenshire North and Moray East
- Angus and Perthshire Glens
- Arbroath and Broughty Ferry
- Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber
- Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
- Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
- Dumfries and Galloway
- Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
- Dundee Central
- Edinburgh West
- Gordon and Buchan
- Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire
- Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey
- North East Fife
- Orkney and Shetland
- Perth and Kinross-shire
- Stirling and Strathallan
- West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
Scottish Labour said: “We will field candidates in every seat across Scotland to take the fight to the Tories and the SNP, and deliver the change Scotland needs.”
Conversation