Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has again suggested he would talk to the SNP about another independence referendum – just hours after he claimed that he and Kezia Dugdale agree on the issue.
He also declined to rule out an informal deal with the SNP in the event of a hung parliament at the same time as he insisted that Labour can win the General Election.
Earlier he had tweeted that Kezia Dugdale “and I are both against independence and a second independence referendum because of the turbo charged austerity it would cause.”
Last week Ms Dugdale said that Labour could give voters a cast iron guarantee that the party would oppose another independence vote.
But asked if his message to the SNP would be to take another referendum off the negotiating table, Mr Corbyn said: “Obviously the Scottish Parliament has taken a view.
"I believe the last thing that Scotland needs now is that debate.
"What is needed now is a serious debate about the problems of underfunding of public services in Scotland and the way in which the SNP government has declined to use the tax raising powers it has... and I think it would be extremely wrong and unwise to go into a referendum while the Brexit negotiations were going on so the invitation I would give to the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament is think again, the important thing now is to get a deal (on Brexit).”
Asked earlier this week if he would block a referendum, late next year or early the year after, if it was backed by MSPs, Mr Corbyn replied: "I would urge them to think again and I would appeal to the Scottish people to think again on this. Let's deal with the Brexit negotiations first."
He added: "What I've said is that if the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish people want a referendum, they have the right to do that - that was the whole point of the devolution agreement of the 1990s."
On Monday, Mr Corbyn threw Scottish Labour into turmoil after he said he would "open discussions" on another poll with the SNP if he won the keys to No 10 next week.
Overnight research by YouGov for the Times suggested that the General Election could result in no party gaining an overall majority.
Asked if he could rule out seeking an informal coalition with the SNP, on a so-called 'confidence and supply' basis, in which the smaller party backs a minority government in exchange for concessions, Mr Corbyn predicted that his party would "celebrate victory" next week.
Appearing alongside Mr Corbyn, Labour's shadow education secretary Angela Rayner added that Labour was "in it to win it".
"I don't trust polls. I think anyone that trusts polls at the moment is naive to say the least," she said.
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