As a Labour leadership contest looms, it has not been surprising to see Brexit feature prominently as the likely approaches of Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting have been dissected.

And it was interesting to hear Stephen Flynn’s take on it all when I interviewed the new Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport a little more than a week ago.

Mr Flynn highlighted his view that the return of freedom of movement between the UK and European Economic Area would “have profound benefit to Scotland’s economy”, amid a declining working-age population.

It is surely difficult to argue with this, given the importance of maximising the working-age population not only to a country’s growth potential but also in terms of the tax base, which is obviously crucial at a time of straitened public finances against a grim UK economic backdrop.

Mr Flynn also highlighted his belief that Labour will run the next general election campaign on a “message which is very pro‑European and potentially a ‘rejoin Europe’ manifesto commitment” to try to “save some of the electoral ground that they’ve lost in England”.

He declared that, until then, “they are boxed in by their own manifesto commitments, which defy economic sense”.

Labour’s “red lines” of not taking the UK back into the European Union, the single market or even the customs union are demoralising indeed.

While under-pressure Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has adopted a far more positive tone on Europe than the Conservatives, the simple fact of the matter is that those red lines mean he has embraced the key elements of the Tory hard........

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