LABOUR should back holding indyref2 or any chance of winning the next Westminster election will be “impossible” for the party, a former trade union chief has warned.
Len McCluskey, former Unite general secretary, urged party chiefs north of the border to “grasp the nettle” and back holding a second independence vote.
McLuskey, who spent a decade leading the UK’s largest union, urged Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to adopt an “imaginative approach” to policy.
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Without a significant change to the party, which McCluskey said is “stagnating”, Labour risks being lost to “another generation” in Scotland.
McCluskey also said that Labour voters had been moving over to the SNP in droves, whilst the party refused to support a second referendum.
The SNP said that by supporting a “broken union” Scottish Labour has been left with “zero credibility”, and said that McCluskey’s comments underlined that point.
Although the next Westminster general election isn’t due until 2024, McCluskey believes a vote could take place as early as October this year.
Speaking in Glasgow to promote his new autobiography, McCluskey (pictured above) told the Press Association that the current political landscape does not bode well for Labour.
He said: “The reality is that if an election is called next year, as we stand at the moment, Labour will make very few if any gains in Scotland, therefore the idea of a Labour overall majority in Westminster is impossible.
“Labour can not win an overall majority in Westminster without Scotland.
“It can achieve a hung parliament, and as a minority it can form a government, although to do that Keir Starmer would have to win back the red wall seats in England and I struggle to see how he is going to do that.”
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McCluskey, who was closely aligned with previous Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said he was “deeply worried about the Labour Party under the leadership of Keir Starmer”, accusing the UK leader of “attacking” the left wing of the party.
He also said he believed Scottish Labour is worse off than the UK party and said they were “stagnating” and had lost touch with the working class.
He said: “We have lost thousands, droves and droves of Labour voters have moved over to the SNP.
“And that has been going on for some years now, Scottish Labour weren’t listening to the trade unions, they certainly weren’t listening to me when I was general secretary and telling them to wake up and smell the coffee.”
McCluskey said that Sarwar and Scottish Labour are "stagnating"
McCluskey said he had predicted Labour would lose “significant numbers” of seats in Scotland in the 2015 election – when it ended up with just one MP.
And he claimed since then “nothing” has changed within the party, particularly on the question of indyref2.
He said: “I believe Scottish Labour really needs to grasp the nettle, they need to talk about the independence question.
“They should support a second referendum, even if they are not declaring at this stage whether they support independence or not.
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“But they have to have an imaginative approach, they should, in my view, embrace the concept of federalism and devo-max, to try to breathe some new life back into the party, otherwise Labour could be lost to another generation in Scotland.”
He continued: “I know comrades in Scotland can say, ‘what the hell has it got to do with you, keep your nose out’ but Scotland is very close to my heart.
“I come from Liverpool, I’ve got Scottish blood in me, and all my life I have looked up to Scotland and the radicalism of Scotland. It breaks my heart what is happening at the moment, as all I see is stagnation.
“That is what is stamped on the foreheads of literally all the leaders of Scottish Labour. And I appeal to them to rub that stagnation off, start to talk about imaginative, radical alternatives.”
McLuskey also criticised the UK Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer, left.
SNP MSP Natalie Don said: “Scottish Labour’s slide into irrelevance in Scotland will continue as long as they keep supporting Westminster control in Scotland – and Len McCluskey’s comments underline that.
“As long as Anas Sarwar continues to be an apologist for callous Westminster Tory policies – and to stand with the Tories in denying people the democratic choice of a referendum they have already voted for – Scottish Labour will move further and further away from working class people in Scotland.
“During this crippling cost of living crisis, Anas Sarwar continues to support the key powers that could make a difference for those on the lowest incomes being in the hands of the Tories at Westminster.
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“This inane support for the broken union - over everything else - has left Scottish Labour with zero credibility and if they do not recognise that then they will slide even further into the political abyss.”
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “We have a good relationship with our trade unions and are doing the hard work necessary to rebuild the Scottish Labour Party.
“Mr McCluskey is a private citizen and is entitled to his views on a range of issues.”
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