A SENIOR Scottish Labour activist has urged the party to expel members who support independence.
Duncan Hothersall, editor of Labour Hame, says anyone even considering backing Yes “should be shown the door”.
Writing in a new blog post, he argues that Scottish Labour’s failures provide an opportunity for renewal.
READ MORE: Scottish Labour in turmoil as members quit over indyref2 stance
He says the Tory strategy of being a “Boris backing, Brexit positive, anti nat party” provides a framework from which his party can re-establish itself as a “Starmer backing, EU positive, anti nat party”.
Hothersall writes: “Tory MSP Michelle Ballantyne tells us the new anointed leader-in-waiting of the Scottish Conservatives, Douglas Ross, will lead a ‘Boris backing, Brexit positive, anti nat party’. It’s a pithy summary, but it could be a signpost to how Scottish Labour could focus itself for the future.
“We need to become a Starmer backing, EU positive, anti nat party. Vacillators over independence should be shown the door. Lexiteers should be ushered to the exit. Those more loyal to the remnants of Corbyn than the hope of Starmer should be jettisoned forthwith.”
READ MORE: Keir Starmer's indyref2 stance 'will lose Scotland for a generation'
He adds: “It’s right that Scottish Labour should be a broad coalition of the left, but the nationalism of Brexit and independence does not belong on the left, and we need to be bold enough to say so and mean it. And the breadth of our coalition always did, and still should, have limits – let those whose natural home is the SWP and the zoomer left go back there and leave us in peace.”
High-profile Labour figures, including MSPs Neil Findlay and Monica Lennon, have voiced their support for indyref2.
According to polling carried out after December’s General Election, 43% of Scots who voted for Labour back independence.
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