Sir Keir Starmer's Christmas present to John Swinney is the pervading sense of hopelessness among the centre ground of Scottish voters. The new Labour government has taught Middle Scotland that Westminster will never offer real change - for that was what Starmer promised, wasn’t it?

The strength of Starmer’s majority initially knocked the brains from everyone. After reducing the SNP to a nub at Westminster, it seemed Labour had remaindered Swinney, leaving him to care-take a dying government which Anas Sarwar would eventually replace at Holyrood.

Wrong. Not only do polls indicate Swinney leading the SNP into its fifth term of government, but support for independence is at its highest for years. The Yes vote stands at 54%. Support for Labour is at its lowest in three years.

Read more Neil Mackay

Extrapolating latest polls gives the SNP 59 MSPs at the next Holyrood election, Labour 20, Tories 19, Reform 13, LibDems 11 and Greens seven. That secures an independence majority in Holyrood.

Swinney is the least unpopular politician in Scotland - hardly a great boast, but it’s certainly better than the others.

The SNP thought they were dead. Labour thought they were dead. The media - myself included - thought they were dead. We’ve all been schooled in the old ways of politics.

Starmer’s super-majority, everyone believed, would guarantee reserves of political support lasting well into 2026, securing Holyrood for Labour.

But that’s 20th century thinking. Politics changes fast now. Starmer’s support is shallow. He was immediately mired in absurd scandals of elitist greed.

His government launched hurting those perceived to be amongst the weakest in society - pensioners - and seemed happy to continue with the worst of Tory policy, the........

© Herald Scotland