SCOTTISH Labour leader Anas Sarwar has been challenged by the SNP to “side with the people of Scotland and not the Tories”, following renewed warnings his position on indyref2 is “unviable”.
The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) general secretary Roz Foyer yesterday said the Labour Party should “take a look at itself” over its stance on opposing another referendum taking place.
In an interview the union leader, whose STUC represents hundreds of thousands of workers, said there is a “policy difference” between the Labour Party and the wider Labour movement on a referendum.
“The Labour Party has to look very carefully at this. I think just rejecting the idea of a second indy referendum ever happening is not a viable way forward,” she told the Daily Record.
“I think we have to engage to some extent with the constitutional debate and I think that we should be actively thinking about coming up with options for the future.
READ MORE: Just four words from Anas Sarwar sum up Scottish Labour's problems
“I would like to see the Labour Party get more on the front foot and come up with some viable solutions.”
Her intervention follows a similar warning from Len McCluskey, the former general secretary of Unite the Union. Speaking on a visit to Scotland last month he said Scottish Labour was “stagnating” and had lost “droves” of voters to the SNP.
He added: “I believe Scottish Labour really needs to grasp the nettle, they need to talk about independence question,” he stated.
“They should support a second referendum, even if they are not declaring at this stage whether they support independence or not.”
However, Sarwar has previously said that his party cannot “pretend we believe in something we don’t” and that candidates in the upcoming council elections must support the Union.
In the wake of the latest remarks from Foyer, the SNP challenged Sarwar to “stop prioritising his obsession with defending Westminster”.
It highlighted a series of “missteps” by Scottish Labour during the council election campaign – such as Sarwar opposing the formation of coalitions between his party and the SNP or Tories after the May vote.
This has been criticised by Elaine Murray, the Labour leader of Dumfries and Galloway Council, who has run the administration since 2017 jointly with the SNP. She said it should be decided by parties in local areas and not be up to the party leadership to “dictate”.
SNP depute leader Keith Brown (below) said: “The SNP welcomes Roz Foyer’s comments, which recognise what most of Scotland knows – that Anas Sarwar continuing to reject the country’s democratic decision to hold a referendum is unviable and unsustainable.
“The case against continued Westminster control over Scotland is unanswerable. We have suffered the catastrophe of Brexit, then liar Boris Johnson’s partying during lockdown, followed by Westminster’s negligent inaction to protect hard-pressed families from this Tory cost-of-living crisis. These are obvious demonstrations of why Scotland needs independence.
“Anas Sarwar’s Union obsession continues to cloud any remaining judgment – so much so that he is prepared to cosy up with the corrupt Conservatives rather than work constructively with the SNP for the benefit of people across Scotland.
“Elaine Murray has demonstrated that, when necessary, the SNP and Labour can provide effective local council leadership by delivering on our shared policy positions.
“For Anas Sarwar’s party to disown her for delivering for her community is shameless and misguided.”
Brown also highlighted other examples of Labour “missteps”, including a meeting between a senior Scottish Labour council candidate in Glasgow with Tories and “ultra-Unionist” campaigners. Glasgow’s Labour group leader Malcolm Cunning and the Tories’ deputy leader in the city Euan Blockley were pictured at an event hosted by The Majority, a group who have called on the UK Government to “ban secession”.
The SNP also pointed to a push by Unionist campaign group Scotland in Union voters to only back the pro-UK parties – Tories, Labour and the LibDems, and a former Orange Order leader standing a Labour candidate.
Brown said: “These are all too familiar tactics which prioritise Westminster control over everything else – and they are as pathetic as they are shameful.
“They are failing the people of Scotland by siding with lying partygate Prime Minister Boris Johnson and standing hardline Unionists.”
He added: “Anas Sarwar is faced with a choice: is he on the side of democracy – and the SNP’s cast-iron mandate to hold another referendum – or is he on the side of law-breaking Boris Johnson and keeping power in the hands of the toxic Tories?
“It’s time Scottish Labour started siding with the people of Scotland.”
Scottish Labour was approached for comment.
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