Labour’s policy on independence must not be imposed on the party in Scotland, one of the front-runners to succeed Jeremy Corbyn has said.
Sir Keir Starmer said it was time to “reset the relationship between UK Labour and Scottish Labour”.
Party bosses in London have previously been accused of treating Labour in Scotland like a “branch office”, with former Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont hitting out when she left the position in 2014.
More recently, senior figures in the UK party have appeared to take a different stance on the issue of independence.
While Scottish Labour has been opposed to a second referendum on the country’s place in the UK, Jeremy Corbyn caused a storm when he said in 2017 it would be “absolutely fine”.
More recently, both Mr Corbyn and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell made clear they would not stand in the way of another ballot on independence – although they said this could not take place in the early years of a Labour Government had they won last month’s election.
Sir Keir, Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, said while the UK’s constitutional arrangements must change, he does not support independence for Scotland.
He also made clear that the party must change as well.
Writing in the Daily Record newspaper, he said: “It’s self-evident Scotland’s relationship with the UK cannot rest on the status quo. There is deadlock when we need change.
“Labour must change, too. We have to reset the relationship between UK Labour and Scottish Labour.
“Our constitutional position will be made, not imposed. It’s not for Scotland alone that change must come.”
He stressed: “I don’t want Scotland to leave the UK. I profoundly believe in solidarity across borders.”
Sir Keir added: “Brexit shows the pain caused by leaving any major economic and political relationship – and Scotland’s economy has a bigger trading relationship with the UK than it does to the EU.”
Looking at the UK’s current constitutional setup, he said: “There are many issues that have to be addressed – how the English regions relate to each other and within themselves; what powers Wales wants in order to shape its future; the relationship between cities, councils and the metro mayors, the question of how we empower smaller towns and support rural communities”.
He called for a federal solution and pledged to push for a UK-wide constitutional convention to be established.
Sir Keir promised under his leadership if Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not agree to this “Labour will kick off its own in opposition and build the case for a new settlement of the UK’s nations and regions”.
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