NICOLA Sturgeon underlined the turmoil and internal divisions in the Labour Party as she hit back last night at Keir Starmer’s criticism of her government’s record.
The First Minister was responding after the Labour leader’s keynote speech drew an annual conference to a close which was overshadowed by internal splits and the resignation on Monday by frontbencher Andy McDonald.
Starmer was heckled by dissenting members throughout the 90-minute address, even breaking off to say it was normally the Tories heckling him at this time on a Wednesday, in reference to the usual weekly session of Prime Minister’s Questions.
During his address Starmer pledged his support for the Union in and claimed he wanted to “bring our nations together”.
He slammed the prospect of independence as a “costly disruption”, heaped praise on Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, also a fierce critic of independence and a second referendum and welcomed former PM Gordon Brown to a new role as head of a party commission on the future of the Union.
READ MORE: Lesley Riddoch: Keir Starmer’s world of work fails to tackle any of Britain’s issues
Challenging the First Minister’s time in office at Holyrood, Starmer said: “When Nicola Sturgeon took office she said she wanted to be judged on her record.
“These days, with the poorest in society less well-educated and less healthy and the tragedy of so many drug-related deaths we hear rather less about the SNP’s record.
“The SNP and the Tories walk in lock step. They both exploit the constitutional divide for their own ends. Labour is the party that wants to bring our nations together.”
Starmer continued: “Under the fantastic leadership of Anas Sarwar, Labour is the party of the Union. Because it’s not just that divorce would be a costly disruption, though that is true. And it’s not just that our Union is in all our economic interests though that is also true. It’s that we are more progressive together. We are more secure together. We are a bigger presence in the world together. We are greater as Britain than we would be apart.
“As Gordon Brown said recently ‘when a Welsh or a Scottish woman gives blood … she doesn’t demand an assurance it must not go to an English patient’.
“I am delighted that Gordon will lead our commission to settle the future of the Union.”
In a cutting response, Sturgeon said she was just glad she didn’t have to sort out the internal problems in the Labour party.
Responding to his attack on independence and on the Scottish Government Sturgeon pointed to the SNP’s election win in May when it stood on a manifesto of holding a second independence referendum.
Speaking to LBC News, the First Minister said: “Of course Scotland has just had an election where it re-elected the government I lead with a historically high share of the vote.
“I think I’d rather listen to the Scottish people than to Keir Starmer, with the greatest respect. Thankfully of all of the many problems I’ve got to deal with on a daily basis right now from Covid to fuel shortages and everything in between, trying to sort out the Labour Party is not one of my responsibilities.”
READ MORE: Richard Walker: Why does Labour simply repeatedly refuse to listen to Scots?
She went on: “Listening to them this week, it’s clear that particularly in a Scottish sense, they have learned none of the lessons they should have learned over the past 10 years or so.
“They continue to make the same mistakes, they continue to treat the Scottish people with contempt in terms of the their views and how the Scottish people vote but that’s their problem and I’ll leave them to get on with it.”
Starmer’s comment on blood donation – which appeared to suggest Scottish Yes supporters wouldn’t want to give blood to a patient in England – also provoked anger.
Afterwards, the Lib Dems said they would work with Brown on the Labour commission on the Union.
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