Decision Time

The political landscape remains familiar in Scotland after Thursday's election, but is nevertheless fundamentally changed.

Labour in Scotland now have an identity crisis. They've lost their anti-indy credentials to the tories and any credibility they had on anything else to the SNP. It is no longer clear who they are or what they're for.

This leaves BBC Scotland with a terrible decision. Notwithstanding the many personal relationships between BBC staff in Scotland and the Labour party, which have blatantly compromised any impartiality they claimed for their reporting hitherto, the BBC are now confronted with a different standard bearer for the anti-indy cause in Ruth's tory retreads.

Do they dump their long term pals in Scottish Labour and throw their full support behind Ruth as the Union's last, best chance?

The palpable tumescence that has pervaded their reporting of the election outcome for the tories suggests yes. The Union trumps ties of blood and marriage: witness Sarah Smith's North Korean levels of hysteria when describing the tories triumph in coming ... second.

The BBC are showing their true colours. They are conspicuously more excited by the tories coming second than by the SNP winning a historic third term with a record share of the constituency vote and a record number of constituencies. We must not allow ourselves to be distracted by their biassed reporting from what is genuinely important.

But perhaps the biggest decision awaits Labour in Scotland, one that has been inevitable and unavoidable for a long time now, one which only petty entrenched tribalistic interests have prevented them from grappling with until now. Will they finally bite the bullet? Their delay in dealing with it until now has proved disasterous. They risk being crushed entirely by this elephant in the room. Any further delay risks utter annihilation.

They now no longer have the luxury of the various intermediate positions that were previously entertained as a viable compromise with their own ore intractable elements. They can only retain any credibility now if they vault completely any advocacy of a federal UK or a looser affiliation between the parties in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Labour in Scotland now have to decide if they are going to be the Prodigal Party and come into the indy fold. It is now the only way they can be a credible choice in an Independent Scotland.