Scottish Labour has long been an endangered species, but it is now on the verge of extinction.

That is what makes the party’s current leadership election – otherwise a drab contest to lead a party reduced to just 17 seats at Holyrood – so important.

It may be the last chance to save Scottish Labour from oblivion.

With the wrong leader, the party will slide only further into obscurity.

Its share of the vote has declined at every devolved election since the Scottish Parliament was established.

Even the capable Anas Sarwar – despite a strong showing at the 2024 General Election – failed to stop the rot.

May’s calamity made the scale of the task brutally clear.

‘Existential question over Scottish Labour’

Labour lost seats and ended up level with Reform UK on 17, while the SNP remained comfortably the largest party.

Membership, meanwhile, has fallen from around 25,000 in 2018 to barely 11,000 today.

This is no longer simply a party going through a difficult patch.

It is a party confronting an existential question about whether it still has a meaningful role in Scottish politics.

But the contest should matter to those outside the Scottish Labour fold too.

It remains the........

© The Courier