The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he will not be “rummaging around opinion polls” and is not interested in what the “pundits are saying” as support for Labour plummets.
During a speech at the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow, Starmer said he is “focused on delivering for the people of Scotland.”
Polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice said that due to Starmer’s unpopularity Scottish Labour has also slumped in the polls.
Starmer told journalists, “I just remind myself that, I think four or five years ago when I became Labour leader, I faced many questions from many people in this room who put it to me that what we’re doing in the Labour Party could never successfully change the Labour Party – wouldn’t put it in a position to win an election, certainly not to win in Scotland.
“We didn’t lose our focus. We were absolutely clear about what we’re trying to achieve, and we got on with it.”
He added, “Since I’ve been in Government, I’m focused on delivering for the people in Scotland.
“I don’t get up and start rummaging around opinion polls or look at what punters are saying.”
Starmer revealed a £200 million fund for the Grangemouth oil refinery and another £600 million which is expected com come from private investment.
“We’ve been focused on that,” he said.
“We’ve not even discussed the polls. We discussed, ‘can we make sure that the Grangemouth proposition is the very best it can possibly be for the future of Scotland?’
“That’s what I’m going to complete and carry on doing.”
Starmer said the announcement on Grangemouth shows “how important Scotland is to me and my Government.”
He added, “And I would say, just imagine what a difference it would make to Scotland if we had a Labour government in Scotland working with a Labour government in Westminster, not in conflict, not voting against a budget that’s actually given lots of money to the Scottish Government to use, quite rightly, for the Scottish people, but actually working together.”
Sarwar said, We’ve proven the pollsters, the pundits and the commentators wrong before and we’ll do it again next year.”
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