THE youngest member of the newly relaunched Labour for Independence group admits to being a big fan of Kezia Dugdale, despite their huge differences of opinion over the Scottish constitution.

New Zealand-born Ben McKinlay, 17, from Earlston in the Scottish Borders, has voiced his full backing for an independent Scotland regardless of the Scottish Labour leader’s commitment to the union.

The sixth-year pupil at Earlston High School, who is studying for his advanced History, English and Modern Studies Highers, joined Labour on his 14th birthday – the minimum age for joining – and has since thrown himself into the movement, attending conferences and meeting Jeremy Corbyn, Gordon Brown and Dugdale on several occasions.

He said: “I spoke at the 2015 Scottish Labour Party Conference up in Perth. I have been to quite a few Labour conferences, three or four Scottish ones as well as the UK-wide conference in Liverpool last year, when I was up on stage with Jeremy Corbyn. I ended up being roped into being part of the choir up on stage to sing the Red Flag.

“I have had my picture taken with Jeremy, Gordon Brown and Kezia Dugdale. I have met Kezia a few times now and I really like her. She comes across as a very honest, good person. I think it was really brave of her to step up and take on the role of leader at the time when it was sort of seen as a poisoned chalice.”

McKinlay believes Dugdale won’t force pro-independence members to follow the pro-Union line.

He added: “I think it is important to consider the fact that she has said several times that if there is another referendum Labour politicians and members won’t be whipped as it were to follow a pro-Union line. We are able to back independence.

“I think it is important to have a distinction between party politics and the constitutional questions. In terms of the actual policies that Labour and Kezia are advocating, I very much support that, more so than other parties such as the SNP. The constitutional question is different but I don’t think that should hold too great a weight in which party you support. I think it is a level above that.”

McKinlay started to get involved in Labour for Independence (LFI) after Brexit despite campaigning against independence before the 2014 referendum.

“I started getting involved in Labour for Independence after the European referendum with the Brexit vote. Even though I was too young to vote in the referendum I did campaign in favour of staying in the European Union and felt quite strongly about that,” he added.

“It was quite a shock when the result came in and we were going to be leaving Europe. It made me re-evaluate things. Before that I didn’t support an independent Scotland, even though again I was too young to vote in 2014, I was out campaigning to stay in the United Kingdom. For me the basis for that was about solidarity with the people across the UK, with the rest of the Labour party down south as well as with Europe.”

Earlier this month Dugdale also said the UK was more important to Scotland than the EU as she set out her plan to “save our Union” in 2017 plans, but McKinlay doesn’t agree.

He said: “I don’t think it is true to say the UK is more important than the European Union, I mean look at it this way, you have 60 million people in the UK and there are 500 million across Europe.

“Kezia is entitled to her own opinions. One thing I like about Kezia is that she does stick to her convictions, she has her beliefs but at the same time she has said we don’t have to always agree with her. If we won a second independence referendum I would still vote for Labour, I would never vote SNP.”

LFI organiser Scott Abel said it was great to have someone like McKinlay on board and added: “Ben is very keen to be involved. If you look at what he has already done in the Labour Party he has influence and speaks to other young members.”