PETER Mandelson has said “the game’s up” for the SNP and that the party has become “structurally irrelevant” to the Scottish people.
Speaking on the BBC Laura Kuenssberg show on Sunday, the former Labour business secretary criticised First Minister John Swinney’s interview on the programme, where he said he had been “reassured” that no parliamentary stamps had been used for the SNP’s election campaign.
Following the interview, Mandelson (below) told Kuenssberg: “Can I just say, though, you didn’t ask us anything about John Swinney and his interview, and I think the reason for that is that it’s perfectly clear that the game’s up for the SNP.
“What the Scottish people now need is not an SNP-led government that’s going to go head-to-head the entire time with the UK government.
“It needs Scottish people in a newly elected Labour government that will get benefits for Scotland.”
Mandelson added: “The SNP has become structurally irrelevant to the Scottish people.”
It comes as Keir Starmer bluntly refused to participate in negotiations for another Scottish independence referendum if the SNP win a majority of Scottish seats in the General Election.
Responding to Mandelson's remarks, the SNP's depute leader Keith Brown (below) told The National that Mandelson's comments were “dripping with the same old arrogance that Scotland became so used to under New Labour and Tony Blair”.
He continued: “It's clear they have learnt nothing after all these years and it's telling that Peter Mandelson is back at the heart of the Labour operation under Sir Keir Starmer.
“Peter Mandelson represents everything which was wrong with New Labour and it's no wonder he drove Scottish voters away in swathes - his arrogant intervention this morning will have the same effect.
“His comments merely demonstrate how out of touch he and the Labour party are with Scottish voters, and why it is so important to vote for the SNP to put the interests of Scotland first.
“Having quit his position from a lobbying firm earlier this week, it appears Mandelson may be set to return to government yet again as Starmer’s Labour party lurches to the right once again.”
Brown added that at the last Holyrood election, voters “clearly” gave a mandate for an independence referendum, echoing the First Minister's comments earlier on the programme.
He continued: “The most recent opinion polls show that support for independence remains as strong as ever - and with Labour refusing to reverse some of the most damaging Tory policies such as austerity, Brexit and cuts to child benefits - it will no doubt continue to rise under a Keir Starmer government.
“On 4th July, vote SNP to put Scotland’s interests first and ensure decisions about Scotland, are made in Scotland.”
