Stewart McDonald, who served as defense speaker in the House of Commons before resigning after Stephen Flynn was elected Westminster leader, warned against using “easy bits” to attack Sir Keir Starmer’s party.
Instead, the Glasgow South MP urged the SNP to focus on a “platform of prosperity, justice, resilience and independence in Europe” in the upcoming general election.
SNP leader and prime minister Mr Yousaf attacked Labor on Saturday following a speech by Mr Starmer.
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf calls Labor a ‘retort’ of the Conservatives
Speaking at the Progressive Britain conference, the Labor leader compared his efforts to reform the party to former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair’s symbolic rewrite of Clause Four “on steroids”.
But he has been criticized for comments reported to the press before the speech, where he said “I don’t care” if he sounded conservative when pledging to preserve “precious things in our way of life.”
Tweeting after the speech, Yousaf said: “This week, I accused Labor of being a pale imitation of the Conservatives, I was wrong, they are a replica.
“Whether it’s the blue Tories or the red Tories in Number 10, they will continue with the policies that are hurting Scotland. We need independence to protect our people.”
The SNP has intensified its attacks on Labor in recent months, with former leader Nicola Sturgeon devoting a section of her party conference speech to Starmer’s party in November.
READ MORE: Yousaf defends Sturgeon after criticism from the children’s commissioner
Both the SNP and Labor have pushed their election messaging in recent weeks ahead of the general election vote scheduled for next year.
A major poll published this month suggested the SNP is on track to lose several seats to Labor with the two parties nearly neck-and-neck over Westminster voting intentions.
The Renfield & Wilton poll, conducted between April 30 and May 2 among nearly 1,300 voters in Scotland, found that 35 per cent would vote for the SNP if a vote were held tomorrow, a drop of 10 per cent from to the 2019 general elections.
It found that 32 percent would vote Labour, up from 19 percent at the last election, with the Conservatives at 18 percent and the Liberal Democrats at nine percent.
Such an outcome would see the SNP wiped out in many of the central belt constituencies that turned yellow in 2015.
McDonald, who was named Best Scotsman in Westminster in the Herald’s Politician of the Year awards in November last year, went on to say that the SNP would only win the next election if it is able to “respond to the economic, social and global insecurities that reach in each community.
Responding to a political commentator on Twitter, the Glasgow South MP said: “We must criticize Labour, of course, but after the Boris disaster years and Truss weeks, telling people Lab & Con are the It won’t get us very far on its own.
“We must show that we can respond to the economic, social and global insecurities that affect all communities.
“And my goodness, there is plenty to criticize Labor for and offer a strong alternative, but we will only win if we can credibly respond to the three common insecurities mentioned above, as part of an unabashedly pro-independence and EU platform. In my opinion, that’s where the winning coalition is.”
And he added: “If we withdraw to the comfort zone and to easy slogans, we will lose.
“We can absolutely take on this lot, but only if (we) get it right. Let us win on a platform of prosperity, justice, resilience and independence in Europe.
“No matter how easy Labor sometimes makes it for us, we must resist easy statements and answers when the problems people face are complex.
“Let’s commit to solving those problems and offer a real alternative to the corrupt Westminster government.”