SCOTTISH Labour leader Kezia Dugdale is on a collision course with Jeremy Corbyn over the legislation to start the Brexit negotiations.
Dugdale wants to oppose the so-called Article 50 bill in a Holyrood vote on Tuesday – in stark contrast to the UK leader’s position – but she is facing resistance from her own MSPs.
The Sunday Herald understands several of her colleagues, on both the left and the right of the party, are sceptical about a stance that would put Labour on the same side as the SNP.
Read more: almost half of Scotland's universities are in deficit
John Lamont, the Scottish Conservative Chief Whip, said: "Labour are all over the place on Brexit and it comes as no surprise to hear there are deep divisions within the parliamentary group."
MPs last week voted on the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill that empowers the Prime Minister to trigger Article 50 and cut a deal on the UK leaving the EU.
A Commons majority of 384 backed the legislation after Corbyn whipped his MPs to support the Government, although 47 Labour MPs rebelled.
The main opposition came from the SNP, whose MPs opposed the legislation after voters in Scotland backed remaining in the EU.
Read more: Tam Dalyell's body to be donated to science
MSPs will have the opportunity on Tuesday to have their say on Article 50 in a vote that is politically significant but not legally binding.
SNP MSPs will vote against the bill and Tory members will back the UK Government position, but the Sunday Herald has been told Scottish Labour is divided.
Ian Murray, Labour’s sole MP north of the border and a Dugdale ally, sits in her shadow cabinet. He
broke the three-line Labour whip at Westminster.
Labour sources said the Scottish Labour leader wants her MSPs to oppose the Article 50 legislation at this time, as there are many outstanding questions about Brexit's impact on Scotland.
Read more: Theresa May sacked George Osborne as revenge new book claims
However, some members of her group are against a move that would be seen as a snub to Corbyn. Others are nervous that opposing Article 50 could be seen as endorsing the SNP’s post-referendum approach.
One senior source said: “We are all over the place.”
It is understood the SNP motion will broadly replicate the Nationalist amendment at Westminster last week, which made no mention of independence.
A free vote could be a way of plastering over Labour divisions, but this move would likely be viewed by political opponents as a sign of weakness for Dugdale.
The split comes as Dugdale faces extra pressure inside her own party to adopt a more pro-Corbyn stance as leader. In internal election to her party’s governing executive, it was announced last week that five out of the eight constituency places were won by pro-Corbyn candidates.
However, well-placed sources believe Dugdale still has a majority on the executive, although the margin is believed to be slim.
Read more: A future Labour government will cap energy prices
Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s debate, Michael Russell, the SNP Government Brexit Minister, said: “The people of Scotland did not vote for Brexit, and only one of the nation’s 59 MPs has now backed the UK Government by voting for the triggering Article 50. It is now essential that the Scottish Parliament’s views are heard prior to the end of the committee stage of the Article 50 Bill in the House of Commons, so we will lodge a motion to allow Parliament to express its view.
"Triggering Article 50 will have profound impacts on devolved responsibilities and on the powers of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government. It is therefore right that the Scottish Parliament expresses its view."
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: "Labour will lay out its position in an amendment to the Government motion. We will decide how we vote on the Government motion when it's published, as we do on each and every other occasion. Labour is firmly opposed to a second independence referendum and will make that clear in Parliament."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel