LABOUR certainly try to be on the Scots' side a little more than the Tories, but that doesn't stop them from endlessly putting their foot in it consistently, does it?
Last night at an Edinburgh Fringe event, Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell said if his party were in government they wouldn't stop another independence referendum in what was presumably an attempt to get back in our good books after seeing the grim level Labour is polling at in Scotland right now.
But, bless his soul, just seconds later he managed to erase any chance of making that happen.
McDonnell started off by saying the decision to hold another referendum is one for the “Scottish Parliament and the Scottish people to decide”.
READ MORE: Labour at war over indyref2 as John McDonnell opens door to vote
He went on: “They will take a view about whether they want another referendum. Nicola Sturgeon said by late next year or the beginning of 2021."
And here's where it all goes wrong:
“The Scottish Parliament will come to a considered view on that and they will submit that to the Government and the English parliament itself."
The English parliament? Which parliament is that then? It can't be Westminster since allegedly that's a Better Together haven where all countries of the UK work together in harmony? In that case, there must be some other parliament tucked away somewhere ...
A key Labour figure calling Westminster the "English parliament" sums up exactly why the party is seeing such a decline here in Scotland. As much as they want to reconnect with Scotland, once their stomping ground - I mean, just four years ago they had 41 seats here, it feels like that was a fever dream or simulation now - but they see us an extension of England. Not our own country with our own distinct socio-political structures, culture and needs. To Labour, Scotland is secondary to England and its English parliament.
READ MORE: Johnson: ‘We have an England-only parliament. It’s in Westminster’
Let's be real here. Boris Johnson made a very similar comment just a month back. When asked about the case for devolution, he said: “We have an England-only parliament. It’s in Westminster."
Westminster-centric politics is never going to serve Scotland.
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