By David Carnduff

LABOUR candidate Blair McDougall insists reports of the death of his party are greatly exaggerated.

With the SNP and Conservatives both performing well at this month’s council elections, at Labour’s expense, many commentators are predicting tough times for Scotland’s former political powerhouse when voters return to the polls on June 8.

However, Mr McDougall remains confident he can place East Renfrewshire back into Labour hands at the General Election.

He told the Barrhead News voters are “scunnered” by the SNP’s demands for a second independence referendum.

Mr McDougall, 38, added: “They are annoyed that politics in Scotland is not about the state of the schools, the NHS or the roads.

“They are sick and tired of being represented by a party that has a neverending political campaign, rather than focusing on local issues.”

Labour has a proud history of success in East Renfrewshire, with Jim Murphy representing the area as MP for 18 years before the SNP swept to victory in 2015.

Mr McDougall, who was director of the Better Together campaign during the 2014 independence referendum, believes that, despite Labour’s poor poll ratings and criticism of party leader Jeremy Corbyn, he can win back the seat.

He said: “The conversations I am having with people on the doorsteps are dominated by anger over the mixture of the independence issue and Brexit. People are angry that these two things are clouding everything else.

“One woman said to me ‘I just want to press a reset button in politics and get back to feeling that the people who represent me are worrying about me, rather than about the party’s agenda.’

“First and foremost, people should vote for us because we’re offering change. We are offering a £10-an-hour minimum wage, we’re offering pensioners security with the ‘triple lock’ and making things right for women who have lost out on pension changes.

“People should vote for me because I ran the Better Together campaign. I think I did as much as anyone to make sure that we remained in the United Kingdom and now there’s an opportunity to move on from that referendum.”

Mr McDougall acknowledges this will be an “incredibly difficult” election for Labour but he sees the party’s fortunes changing.

He said: “The traditional party voters I speak to understand that it’s so important to stop the Conservatives running away with a blank cheque and doing what they like.”

Although this is Mr McDougall’s first bid to win a parliamentary seat, he has many years’ experience of campaigning for Labour and was an advisor to ministers under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

He said: “People think Theresa May has called this election because she believes she is going to walk into Downing Street with a bigger majority. People don’t think that’s healthy.

“That, plus the constitutional rows, have created something interesting in many parts of Scotland but particularly in East Renfrewshire.

“A lot of people will be voting tactically this time to send a message to either Theresa May or Nicola Sturgeon, so it’s a very interesting and complex election.”

According to Mr McDougall, important issues on the doorsteps of East Renfrewshire include school funding, falling literacy standards and the threat that new development poses to green spaces.

He said that, while East Renfrewshire schools have a good reputation, there is a feeling the local council is under pressure to protect school funding.

And, on the upsurge in support for the Conservatives in East Renfrewshire at the council elections, he said: “I think a lot of people wanted to send a signal on the Union and they felt that backing the Conservatives was a very clear way to do that.

“I have been saying to those people on the doorstep that there is no stronger defender of the Union than me. I ran the Better Together campaign and we won.

“I think people want to be absolutely confident that they will be voting for someone who will defend their place in the UK.”