SCOTTISH Labour has attracted more than 3,400 new members since May.

Over the whole of Britain it seems the party has more than doubled in size since the general election.

This should be a cause for celebration — a great start to the fightback against the Tories and the nationalists.

That fact might of course be the real reason for the adverse right-wing news coverage in many publications on the leadership contest, consisting of negativity about who’s joining, who’s affiliating or who’s supporting Labour.

The reality is that the surge in membership started before the leadership election and if Jeremy Corbyn’s positive, upbeat, hope-filled campaign is attracting even more members and supporters, then that should be a good news story for Labour.

After all, who would have thought on May 8 that only a few months later a Labour leadership contender would be packing out venues up and down these islands?

People are turning out in droves to hear an alternative to Tory-imposed austerity, a return of public services that actually serve the public not line the pockets of big business and a compassionate approach to welfare which involves tackling costs by lifting people out of poverty and into fairly paid work.

As his slogan tells us, Jeremy is offering “straight-talking, honest politics” and that is clearly appealing to huge numbers of people.

Therefore, it is particularly galling to witness the ghosts of Labour’s past rising up to talk Corbyn down — particularly when they are rising from the burgundy benches of the House of Lords where people are put through patronage and privilege rather than a democratic contest.

New Labour’s hierarchy, former PMs and Cabinet ministers, many of them now lords and dames, and some current MPs have been quick to personally criticise Corbyn, forgetting that their own actions in terms of voting for the Iraq war, accepting neoliberal dogma and pursuing a privatisation agenda has brought our once proud people’s party to this state.

Ironically their interventions have helped, not hindered, Corbyn’s campaign. These so-called great strategists just don’t get that they are seen as the problem not the solution and their top-down instructions are being rejected by the party membership who want to see the type of policies and the democratisation of the party Corbyn proposes.

Those who say Corbyn can’t lead us to victory should reflect on the reasons why we are in trouble and consider that it is precisely the policies proposed by the Corbyn campaign that will turn Labour’s fortunes around.

Apologising for Iraq is long overdue, not only to the country but also to those of us who recognised the folly of it at the time.

A commitment to reverse the Tory privatisation of public services must be in Labour’s next manifesto, while a clear opposition to the current anti-trade union legislation will put Labour firmly back where Labour should be — on the side of the trade unions and the workers. After all, Labour was set up by the trade unions as their political arm.

It is difficult to remind the electorate of the many good laws and policies implemented by Labour in government while these headline mistakes continue to haunt us.

I believe that the alternative for Labour to a Corbyn leadership is many more years spent in the wilderness of British politics trying to attract the amorphous middle ground.

However, unlike Corbyn’s critics I will not personally criticise any other candidate in this leadership election and I will accept the democratic decision of this contest.

In Scotland we can only win back our lost support, particularly in our traditional working-class heartlands — taken for granted by New Labour bosses — with a progressive agenda that redefines our purpose but also reclaims our historical reason for being to fight for the betterment of all.

While a Corbyn win is unlikely to immediately turn-around the anti-Labour/pro-SNP tide, it will help to show those we seek to serve that Labour will do just that and is listening and acting on the massive message sent to us not only in May but also in May 2011 when we lost so many constituency seats in Scotland.

That’s why I believe that voting for Corbyn is not only a matter of the heart — it’s a “no-brainer.”

• Elaine Smith is Labour MSP for Coatbridge & Chryston and convener of Scottish Labour’s Campaign for Socialism (CfS).