There will be more than a few heavy hearts among Scottish Labour Party activists at their conference in Perth. Barely hours after the UK party lost the Copeland by-election to the Conservatives, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale was insisting she had faith in UK leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Loyalty is one thing but Ms Dugdale’s remarks suggested that this was a party that seems incapable of facing up to its weaknesses, let alone setting them right. Yes, Labour can take some solace in the fact that it held on to Stoke-on-Trent Central but this should be of little comfort when set against its wider woes.

In normal times, both by-elections should have raised barely a flicker of concern but these are not normal political times. Not only did the Tories gain Copeland, but they also did so with a comfortable majority, almost the same as Labour’s at the 2015 General Election.

In losing Copeland, a constituency it had held for more than 70 years, there was simply no escaping the fact that Labour has been humiliated. While Ms Dugdale might have faith in Mr Corbyn, many voters do not see it that way.

According to some left-wing MPs, Mr Corbyn’s leadership came up unprompted and was near-toxic on the doorsteps of Copeland.

His unpopularity continues to be a political Achilles heel for the party. Many Labour activists have long known this, of course, but finding a way of ridding themselves of the problem is altogether another matter. If a serious lack of trust in Mr Corbyn exists among many voters, the message his party espouses equally leaves many unconvinced. These voters want a clear political alternative to what is on offer.

Mr Corbyn might talk of taking on the political establishment but the problem remains that so many voters see Labour as being part of that same establishment. If both messenger and message are proving a challenge for the party, the only way to overcome this is through better organisation and strategy.

But in this capacity, too, Labour has been found wanting. This is a party fixated by the blame game rather than putting its own house in order. That much was evident again this past week when the apportioning of blame over Copeland focused on Tony Blair’s anti-Brexit speech.

As this newspaper has previously pointed out, such failings suggest a party with serious internal communications problems at precisely the moment it is facing the toughest electoral pressures in its history.

Here in Scotland those pressures have already taken an enormous toll. Only a few months ago, we highlighted how Labour’s Shadow Scottish Secretary, David Anderson, admitted that Mr Corbyn recognised how much he needed to raise his game in Scotland.

If Copeland is any measure, the urgent need for improvement is not restricted to Scotland. How the party responds to the defeat will be instructive. This is not the time to wrap itself in the comfort blanket of the Stoke victory or declare undying loyalty to a leader who is part of the problem. Labour is not yet ready to be laid to rest. These days, though, there is something of the death rattle about it.