Ross Lydall: Is Labour afraid of talking about Britain?

Does the Scottish Labour Party have a problem describing itself as British?
A correspondent draws my attention to the party's European election manifestos for North and South of the Border, and the replacement of the word "Britain" with that of "Scotland" (or the omission of Britain altogether) on a number of occasions.

For example, the manifesto, entitled Winning The Fight For Britain’s Future, states: "Labour has fought hard so that workers in Britain have the right to guaranteed holidays, mums and dads have more time to spend at home with their British kids and we pay less for air travel or phone calls when we are on holiday."

But in the tartan edition, this is amended to: "Labour has fought hard so that workers in Scotland have the right to guaranteed holidays, mums and dads have more time to spend at home with their kids and we pay less for air travel or phone calls when we are on holiday."

Similarly, "Labour stands resolutely for the hard working majority of the British people" is amended to "Labour stands resolutely for the hard working majority of the people" for the benefit of Scottish eyes.

That's not to say that Britain does not feature in the Scottish manifesto. The word pops up 11 times - but 68 in the UK manifesto. All very strange for a Unionist party, perhaps?