SCOTTISH Labour pressure group the Campaign for Socialism is set to distance itself from the 'Corbynite' Momentum movement amid concerns about its English members favouring a "progressive alliance" with the SNP.
Momentum, a UK-wide campaigning group within Labour, credited with helping to deliver Jeremy Corbyn's two leadership victories, agreed a joint membership scheme with the Campaign for Socialism, a Scotland-only group.
However, the annual meeting of the group will today be asked to abandon the joint arrangement known as the Campaign for Socialism-Momentum Scotland group, that was launched last year.
Under the proposed changes the group would revert back to its original title of the Campaign for Socialism (CfS).
Martyn Cook, the group's secretary, who is proposing the move, said it was not a split, but would allow Corbyn's supporters in Scotland to make clear their different positions on some issues to those held by Momentum members south of the Border.
Cook's motion, to be debated in Glasgow today, states: "The organisation has grown in size as a result of this agreement, but there have been organisational and political differences between CfS in Scotland and with Momentum nationally."
Speaking to the Sunday Herald, Cook said a critical difference was that some Momentum supporters in England have favoured an informal alliance with the SNP to oust the Tories at the next General Election.
The prospect of such a deal with the SNP and Greens has been hinted at by senior Corbyn backers such as Unite union general secretary Len McCluskey and former shadow business secretary Clive Lewis.
However, Cook said Corbyn supporters in Scotland were overwhelmingly opposed to such a pact due to the performance of the SNP in government and cuts he claimed the party was making.
Cook said: "In London there's a lot of sympathy for a progressive alliance, but nobody in Labour in Scotland wants anything to do with it."
He added: "Some people see the SNP, but don't really get the difference between the SNP at Westminster and the SNP government at Holyrood, which is making cuts."
He continued, "We need a separate organisation, but we'll still work alongside Momentum. It's not a complete break. But we need to recognise the political difference with devolution."
Cook also pointed out that the CFS, which has existed since the mid-1990s, ran Corbyn's first leadership campaign in Scotland and remained supportive of the Labour leader.
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