KEIR Starmer appears to be launching a charm offensive against Scottish voters by travelling across the Border 232 per cent more often since the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon.
Analysis of press coverage of the Labour leader’s trips to Scotland suggests Starmer is averaging an appearance north of the Border nearly once a month.
According to analysis by The National, he has made 0.85 trips a month since the beginning of the year.
All his trips this year have come after Sturgeon announced she was standing down as leader of the SNP on February 15.
His first appearance came just days after the shock resignation at the Scottish Labour conference on February 19.
After that, he visited Cambuslang at the beginning of March and took a trip to Caithness towards the end of the month.
He had an overnight trip from May 25 taking in visits to Kirkcaldy before hitting Rutherglen, where his party hopes to gain a new seat in an expected by-election.
In 2022, the Labour leader visited Scotland just three times – a rate of 0.25 visits per month.
It appears Labour want to boost Starmer’s profile north of the Border, where he suffers from poor and apparently declining popularity ratings.
His trips to Scotland also appear not to have improved his popularity among Scottish voters.
Pollsters at Redfield and Wilton have tracked his approval rating in Scotland since December last year – and found it to be in decline.
Figures released by the company show his current net approval rating at minus 3% – compared with a positive rating of more than 10% late last year.
At the next election, Labour need to win more than 130 seats to form a government with the slimmest of majorities – a feat which, if achieved, would outshine Tony Blair’s historic 1997 landslide victory.
But he has been accused of using Scotland as a “photo op” and failing to speak out about Westminster vetoing Scottish legislation like the Deposit Return Scheme and the Gender Recognition Reform Bill.
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman said: “Scotland isn’t a photo op.
“Where was Starmer when the Tories were riding roughshod over the Scottish Parliament to veto the Gender Recognition Reform Bill?
“Or giving themselves unprecedented new powers to veto the Deposit Return Scheme? Where will he be when these powers are inevitably used again?
“Walking down a high street with a rosette and photographer won’t cut it.
“Scotland needs politicians who will stand up for Scotland’s democracy, and so far Starmer has refused to do so.”
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “Poll after poll shows that the people of Scotland are turning to Labour to deliver the change that Scotland needs.
“Keir Starmer will be a Prime Minister for all of the United Kingdom and is committed to standing up for the people of Scotland.”
