Where does the Winter Fuel Allowance fiasco leave Scottish Labour? It’s been exposed as not just without principle but also without strategy as it has to pretend that it has autonomy and agency when it clearly has neither.

The Winter Fuel Allowance was due to be devolved in September of this year and replaced with a Scotgov equivalent. But in July of this year the UK Labour government announced that the WFA would be abolished for all but those on pension credit or other means tested benefits.

UK gov did not consult Scotgov about this. Rather, it notified them very shortly before making the public announcement. There is no conceivable way, therefore, to argue that Scotgov chose to cut the WFA. It had no involvement in that decision.