SIR Keir Starmer has backed Scottish Labour’s unconditional rejection of a second independence referendum.
The Labour leader said “breaking up” the UK just as the country faced up to mass unemployment is the “wrong thing to do”.
Mhairi Black, the SNP’s shadow Scotland secretary, hit out, saying: “Keir Starmer’s comments against a second independence referendum highlights why Labour were humiliated at the last General Election and left with all but one of their MPs in Scotland.”
Starmer also offered his support to Scottish party leader Richard Leonard, despite the party being left with just one MP after the General Election in December.
His comments came moments after he sacked MP Rebecca Long-Bailey for sharing an article which contained an “antisemitic conspiracy theory”.
Labour opposed indyref2 at last year’s General Election, but they said they would not block a referendum if Scots wanted one.
The caveat came after John McDonnell, the then shadow chancellor, used an appearance at the Edinburgh Festival to say a Labour government would not stand in the way of another vote. His intervention angered some Scottish Labour activists who believed he had imposed the policy without consultation.
The Scottish party this month clarified its position, saying they opposed indyref2 unconditionally. But the decision came after some senior figures in the party, including MSPs Monica Lennon and Neil Findlay, said the party should not oppose a second independence vote following the disastrous December election result.
After the position was then clarified to reject a second independence referendum, Leonard said the next Holyrood election should be about “rebuilding” Scotland’s economy, public services and communities after Covid-19, adding: “That work must be the focus of the next Scottish Government and so we will be going into that election in 2021 with a Scottish Labour Party position that is opposed to a second referendum.”
Black continued: “At the same time as a recent Panelbase survey revealed that an increasing number of Labour voters (37%) now intend to vote Yes, the remarks from the Labour leader show just how detached the party has become from people in Scotland and why they are languishing in the polls.
“It’s quite telling that the Labour leader who was open to a second EU referendum is so firmly against the people of Scotland having a say over their future.
“With poll after poll showing majority support for a second independence referendum, the people of Scotland must have the choice over a better future than the broken Westminster system being imposed upon us against our will – and that decision lies solely with the people of Scotland.”
READ MORE: Support for Scottish independence soars to 54 per cent
During a Zoom briefing yesterday, Starmer, who made a promise during the leadership campaign to work closely with Scottish Labour, backed the new position: “There is nothing between me and Scottish Labour on this. One of the things I am determined to do as leader of the Labour Party is to ensure that the Labour Party across the United Kingdom and in Scotland are all speaking in the same way, on the same issues,” he said.
“The argument we have to make is about radical federalism, about putting power closer to people, and I don’t just mean in the Scottish Parliament, I mean beyond that, into local councils, into local communities.”
He added: “I don’t believe breaking up the United Kingdom is the right thing to do, particularly when we are on the verge of an economic crisis, the like of which we haven’t seen for a generation.”
Asked about a recent poll which showed 43% support for independence among Labour voters, he said: “It’s for us to make the argument for a radical alternative, and that means not defending the status quo. Breaking up the United Kingdom when we are about to face an economic crisis, with probably mass unemployment, is the wrong thing to do.”
Asked whether Leonard is the right man to lead Scottish Labour into the next Holyrood election, he said: “I have full confidence in Richard. I am working very closely with Richard. Both he and I know that we’ve got a real job of work to do in Scotland.”
However, some left-wing activists believe Scottish Labour’s strengthened opposition to indyref2 will hamper their ability to attract SNP voters.
Tommy Kane, a former adviser to Jeremy Corbyn, wrote recently: “The Labour membership should decide the party’s position on this. I would hope that in any such discussion a hardline anti-democratic line would be rejected. Another referendum is for the people of Scotland to decide.”
The briefing took place after Starmer fired Long-Bailey as shadow education secretary over an article she reposted online which he believes contains antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Asked if he believed Long-Bailey is antisemitic, he said: “I have asked her to step down because she shared that article. I have made it my number one priority to rebuild trust with the Jewish communities.
“In the interests of rebuilding that trust, I have stood her down from the shadow cabinet.”
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