Politics rewards the ruthless and punishes the sentimental.

That is why, after yet another miserable Scottish Parliament election for Labour, the party should ask itself a question it has avoided for too long: what, exactly, is the point of carrying on like this?

Not the point of social democracy. Scotland needs that more than ever.

Not the point of a serious centre-left alternative to the SNP. That is essential.

But the point of Scottish Labour, as presently constituted, limping from one devolved election to the next, eternally promising that recovery is just around the corner.

It is abundantly clear it isn’t. At every Scottish Parliament election since 1999, Labour’s vote share has fallen.

That is not a temporary setback. It is a trajectory. It is a political business model in managed – some might say unmanaged – decline.

The 2024 General Election briefly allowed Labour to delude itself that Scotland had come home. The SNP had been found out.

Labour was back as the natural party of government.

Yet Holyrood has now delivered a more brutal verdict. The party remains too weak outside parts of the Central Belt, too exposed to the reputation of its Westminster leadership, and too burdened by a brand.

‘Radical answer to Labour and Lib Dem problems’

But there is a........

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