THE chief economic adviser to shadow chancellor John McDonnell featured in a video, encouraging Scottish voters to back independence in the run-up to the referendum of two years ago, it has emerged.
In the footage, James Meadway is seen saying independence would "break the stranglehold of Westminster and the City of London" and adds: “Go on Scotland, you can do it.”
The PoliticsHome website explained that Mr Meadway was one of a number of English contributors to the “Scottish Independence: support from London” film, which was posted on YouTube less than a month before the poll in September 2014.
In the footage, he says: “I support Scottish independence because this is about democracy. It's a chance not just for Scotland but for the whole country to break the stranglehold of Westminster and the City of London politics on the economy and think about how we can run a different, better kind of country."
Last month, the website revealed how Mr McDonnell’s economic advisor had written an article in 2014, claiming Scottish independence would be "a huge gain for the world".
In it he argued: "Every socialist, every person who identifies with the political Left, should be fully in support of the Yes campaign; not just north of the border, where the Scottish Left now overwhelmingly supports independence, but also in England and Wales."
He added: "Whatever the misdemeanours of Scottish nationalism, they are as nothing compared to the world-historic crimes of British nationalism. And support for No is support for British nationalism."
In response, a spokesman for the shadow chancellor said the video represented “an historic personal opinion” held by Mr Meadway, a former member of the Socialist Workers Party, and did “not reflect the views of the Labour party”.
Mr McDonnell’s office has previously stressed how Mr Meadway is a respected economist, who has worked for the Treasury and taught at Cambridge University.
In 2005, the former chief economist at the New Economics Foundation think-tank reportedly helped the Respect candidate George Galloway in his successful campaign to unseat Labour’s Oona King in the east London seat of Bethnal Green and Bow.
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