This survey of the mountain Labour has to climb, from the always clear-sighted @steverichards14, should be required listening for every Party member.

Starmer may be the first step on the road to recovery but unfortunately it's not a road. It's more like Spaghetti Junction. (1/?) https://twitter.com/steverichards14/status/1247790341173858312

Perhaps the most important segment deals with Labour's Scottish problem.

In short, it's hard to see Labour returning to power without either recovering in Scotland, or governing as a minority administration propped up in some way by the SNP. (2/?)

This is so obvious, long-standing and banal an observvation that its significance is now underappreciated. But it may be the most important electoral fact Labour has to contend with. Because it's integral to Labour's English problem too. (3/?)

The last general election at which Labour won the largest share of the vote in England was 2001. Since then English voters have witnessed Alex Salmond become First Minister in 2007, the Scottish #indyref of 2014, and the collapse of Labour's vote in Scotland at #GE2015. (4/?)

Scottish nationalism's impact on the arithmetic at Westminster has changed the electoral calculus for many English voters. A Labour win in England is going to remain a tall order so long as the Tories can portray an SNP-Labour pact as a loss of English power. (5/?)

A Labour recovery in England sufficient to put the Party within reach of power requires neutering the SNP issue, which probably requires a prior recovery in Scotland. But Labour are in third place in Scotland. The electoral mountain to climb there looks even more daunting. (6/?)

Labour's challenges in Scotland are legion. An uninspiring leader who should've resigned with Corbyn. A withered party machine. The sense that Labour sends its best people to London. And a worry that the national leadership will always prioritise English interests. (7/?)

And as in England, many voters in Scotland's post-industrial seats have abandoned Labour for a party pushing an overtly patriotic/nationalist project in which the key rhetorical idea is that national self-determination is a pre-requisite for personal self-determination. (8/?)

Taking back Scottish seats at Westminster entails Labour first advancing at Holyrood. That means a change of personnel (Leonard has to go) and a new post-devolution Scottish Labour Party.

There're no easy fixes. But I have a suggestion for leader... (9/?)

That photo was a joke. Sort of. (10/?)

One final thought that applies to both England and Scotland.

A change of government usually follows the incumbent party being damaged by scandal or economic crisis at a time when the Opposition looks like a safe pair of hands. (11/?)

The SNP have been in power at Holyrood for 13 years, the Tories at Westminster for 10. The COVID-19 crisis has the potential to undo both of them.

On both sides of the border Labour needs to start looking like a government-in-waiting. (12/12)