Jim Murphy calls for Labour to 'confront nationalism'

The comments came as part of a debate on the conference fringe organised by Labour Friends of Scotland.

Mr Murphy - who led the party into the 2015 general election where they lost 40 of their 41 Scottish MPs - was asked for his thoughts at the Scotland needs Labour, Labour needs Scotland event. 

Though reluctant to speak, the former MP told the audience: “My take is that the circular conversation about powers is an attempt to fix a political problem. 

“And further powers are an important part of the political project, but they're not an alternative to a political project. 

“And often when I listen to the Scottish Labour Party talking about powers it's 'this is the one thing we believe in'. 

"And allied to that, I would observe that it's hard to be nationalist without taking on nationalism. 

“I don't mean absorbing nationalism, I mean confronting it. Not in a furious way, but a respectful way. 

“And so, I absolutely believe that 14 years into the SNP government they're pretty, pretty poor. 

“But it doesn't seem to matter for a whole chunk of people and our argument can't just be about waiting times and hospitals important as though that is. 

“Our argument has to be about the fundamental nature of nationalism. And I know that's a harder argument. 

“And I know it doesn't lend itself to soundbites, but it's a substantial foundations-based argument from which you can then make others. 

“But my plea would be let's not pretend that a debate about powers is a route back to power. A debate about politics and about nationalism is part of the process of getting back to power as far as I'm concerned.”

“But, who knows?” Mr Murphy said, “I lost the Labour Party 40 seats” 

“Although I did have some help,” he added.

Former First Minister Jack McConnell said Labour had “been in an endless debate since 2007 about more powers”.

He described this as a “blind alley.” 

The peer added: “I think the real challenge is how do you change the way the British state works to reflect the fact that the United Kingdom is now a multinational state with different levels of legislative power in different places. 

"As a party, we've not addressed that properly at the centre since 99. 

“And I think we need to be very careful that we just don't continue with an attempt to find a common ground on powers. That has never existed. Scotland is completely stuck. We've been stuck since 2014. 

“The balance of opinion between remaining and leaving the UK really hasn't changed despite everything. 

“You think of everything that has happened since 2014. We've had Brexit, we've had the worst two governments ever in the history of this country under May and Johnson and yet opinion in Scotland hasn't really changed one way or the other. 

“And I think we've got a terrible Scottish Government and opinion has not changed in the other direction either.

During the Fringe event, Lisa Nandy talked about the impact of the loss of those MPs on the internal machinations of the party.

“When I was first elected in 2010, I was elected along with some amazing people, many of whom just five short years later were wiped out in what was a tsunami that should have given us a sense of what was coming in the red wall in England and Wales as well. 

“And the loss of those great, great MPs, including Anas Sawar, great friend of mine, throughout all that time, has been a real problem for the Labour Party. 

“See what happens in the parliamentary Labour Party is that we meet every Monday at six o'clock in committee room 14 to thrash out decisions about how we're going to lean out to the country. 

“And as the parliamentary Labour Party shrinks, and there are fewer and fewer people represented in those conversations, you have to work even harder, and redouble your efforts to be a party that represents the whole of the United Kingdom again. 

“And the loss of those MPs overnight with the sole survivor of Ian Murray  meant that that conversation shrunk immediately.”

She described the SNP as "one of the most centralising governments in the history of our country".

Ms Nandy said Labour would put power back into community's hands so that "we can drive and shape decisions about the places that we call home, no more go begging cap in hand to people hundreds of miles away, who've never set foot in our communities, but think they know better how to solve challenges."

She said Labour would "get those good clean energy jobs back into our coastal and industrial towns in every part of the United Kingdom, so that workers in Fife don't have to suffer the indignity of seeing wind turbines being manufactured in Indonesia, when we have the skills and the capability to make them here."

Ms Nandy added: "That sense of pride and purpose has been robbed from us, in many, many parts of this country. And we're going to restore it to people."

Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford was also asked for his thoughts. He said his party’s success in Wales had come by “recognising that the things that matter to working people in Wales matter to working people in Scotland and England and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, but that they are distinctly different as well.” 

He added: “You know, we have a language, we have a history, we have a politics, Labour has won the majority in the general election in Wales for 100 years, and did so even in the darkest days of 2019. 

“So, while you have to craft a future for the United Kingdom that is based on commonality and solidarity, if you don't find a way of accommodating identity, alongside it, you're only ever telling part of the story. 

“And if we've tried to do anything in Wales, it's been to combine our socialist history and our sense of social solidarity, at the same time as making sure that the identity that people feel between the Labour Party and being Welsh remains absolutely solid in their minds.”