ON day two of our look at 100 days since the General Election Political Correspondent STEWART PATERSON talks to Labour veteran Diane Abbot and former Tory minister John Redwood on their view of the turnaround in Scottish politics.

THE arrival of 56 SNP MPs was met with much curiosity and consternation at Westminster as though it was a recreation of the 1977 Wembley pitch invasion.

As the new MPs first took selfies in the Chamber then clapped after speeches, the keepers of traditional Westminster values were appalled.

The election of the SNP in unprecedented numbers after the General Election meant some seasoned Westminster operators had to familiarise themselves with a new phenomenon, an almost exclusively single party Scottish block.

Since the initial influx however the group has impressed old hands on both the Tory and Labour benches.

Between them Right wing Tory MP John Redwood and Labour’s left winger Dianne Abbot have clocked up 64 years of Westminster experience.

Both elected in 1987, seven years before Mhairi Black was born, they have seen five Prime Ministers, the Liberal SDP merger, arrival of New Labour, contested leadership elections and seen countless scandals and resignations rocking Westminster and the political establishment.

They agree on little or nothing but both concur the 2015 election marks a big change.

Mr Redwood said in the early days of the new session the difference between Labour and the SNP on the opposition benches is clear.

A defeated and demoralised Labour is being overshadowed by a buoyant SNP.

He said: “It’s made a clear difference in Westminster politics as we see in the collapse of Labour as an effective opposition and the rise of the SNP as an opposition force.

“At times the SNP is a stronger opposition force in terms of voice than the Labour Party in the House of Commons.”

It could he feels however work in the Tories favour as they can’t decide if they will unite in opposition.

He added: “So in some senses it’s more difficult facing two oppositions in other senses it’s easier because they are often split and the SNP have certainly won on points in the first month or so.”

The SNP he said are clear in their purpose while a post election Labour is looking for its identity and in the midst of a leadership contest.

He said: “In this parliament it’s very noticeable at the moment it’s very different because you’ve got a very broken and ineffective Labour Party and fairly coherent and energetic SNP group.

“The energy and enthusiasm of the SNP group in parliament has been increased by two things, one, for many of them it’s a new experience so they are keen to be here and to try it out and, two, there’s been a very dominant run of Scottish business which gives them an added motivation to be here.”

Mr Redwood is critical of the SNP stance on fox hunting and said it was opportunistic and contradictory but concedes it’s something they were “democratically entitled to do”.

He is obviously impressed with some early contributions by the new MPs but said time will tell.

He said: “I think it’s a very big change for Scotland it’s a lesser change for the union. It’s partly the current conjunction and I think it will look different in a year or two’s time unless Labour doesn’t rally.

“Numbers normally tell in parliament, Labour still has the numbers.”

Ms Abbott is more open in her acknowledgement of the early SNP impact.

She said unlike the pre election rhetoric from Ed Miliband Labour would be “foolish” not to work with the SNP in opposition.

The Hackney MP feels the defeat of Scottish Labour deeply but can understand why people voted for the SNP in such numbers.

She has been impressed with the quality and disappointed with the treatment in some media.

She said: “They’ve come down and I think they had bad treatment by the media trying to distort them and caricature them but there’s an enormous amount of energy and I think that’s great.

“I don’t feel the SNP group is any more Scottish than my Labour colleagues. I think the fact the SNP all came in one go and as a group has given them an esprit de corps but they’re no more Scottish then the Scottish MPs that came before.”

An MP for almost 30 years Ms Abbott notices the absence of her Scots Labour colleagues more than most.

She said: “When you came back to parliament it was like a leg had been amputated, because, when I came to parliament in 1987 there was a big Scottish block of MPs it was almost he heyday of the Scottish presence in the Labour party.”

She rattles off a list of Labour stalwarts “Donald Dewar, Robin Cook, Gordon Brown and Gavin Strang. Some of the most brilliant and talented people in the Labour party were Scottish and they were a very cohesive group of people.

“Because Scotland was such a bastion for the Labour Party and some of them had been here for a very long time and suddenly they’re all gone in one go.”

Ms Abbot identifies some common cause with the SNP and warns against dismissing a coherent and organised group.

She said: “I was an MP in the John Major years and he had a bigger majority than what Cameron’s got and he had enormous difficulties and I think Cameron is going to have enormous difficulties.

“He’s been foolish to discount what a block of SNP MPs can do. They’ve already shown with the fox hunting.

“We ought to be able to work with them. It would be silly not to be able to work on areas of mutual interest.

“Some of the issues around welfare which would affect Scotland, there are a number of Labour MPs who are opposed to Trident and we will be looking for the opportunity to vote against Trident.”

Clarity on these issues are why she feels Labour lost so heavily in Scotland to a party she said has clearly positioned itself to the left of the Blairite and post Blair Labour Party.

She said: “I think, from the outside, the Scottish electorate voted for a party that was anti –austerity, in favour of universal benefits and wants to scrap Trident.

“The SNP position is very clear on these issues and that what Scots voted for and I think that’s a rational explanation.”