A senior Labour MSP yesterday signalled a significant shift in his party's position on an independence referendum, saying he was willing to discuss the matter with shadow cabinet colleagues.
Andy Kerr, the party's Shadow Public Services Secretary, spoke out as a former Labour minister said he believed they should "call Alex Salmond's bluff" by supporting a referendum.
Until now, Labour has dismissed the SNP's calls for a referendum and has joined the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to look at ways of winning more powers for the Scottish Parliament.
But writing in a Sunday newspaper, former enterprise minister Allan Wilson said Labour had allowed itself "to be sucked into a constitutional quagmire".
Instead, Mr Wilson argued, the party should "take on the Nationalists with their own ball" and support an independence referendum.
Mr Wilson, who lost his Cunninghame North seat in May, said there was "little doubt" that Scots would reject independence at the polls, allowing Labour to seize the political initiative.
He said: "Labour leader Wendy Alexander should call Alex Salmond's bluff and support an independence referendum and, in so doing, settle the constitutional debate and quash the economic uncertainty for at least 25 years."
Mr Wilson added: "There is little doubt unionists would win a referendum. And in so doing we would knock the wind out of the SNP's sails, plunging their party into a state of chaos."
Asked to respond on television, Mr Kerr said his former colleague had made "a decent argument" on a referendum.
He said: "I think what properly should happen is that we should have a discussion in the party. I would want to discuss that matter with other shadow cabinet colleagues."
Mr Kerr's remarks are in sharp contrast to Labour's official stance: the party has consistently ruled out any involvement in an independence referendum.
When First Minister Alex Salmond launched his "national conversation" white paper on Scotland's constitutional future, which included the option of a referendum, Labour's deputy leader Cathy Jamieson said: "No-one should be under any illusion, the white paper is about breaking up the UK, not making Scotland better."
Labour last night sought to play down Mr Kerr's comments, issuing a statement in his name which said a referendum was not "an immediate priority" for the party.
The SNP last night welcomed his and Mr Wilson's comments. Pointing to a YouGov poll in August which suggested that 74% of Scots back a referendum, Bruce Crawford, the Minister for Parliamentary Business, said Labour were "playing catch-up" with the rest of the country.
He said: "Finally, it appears the Labour Party has woken up to offering the people of Scotland what they want."
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 hereComments are closed on this article