THE frontrunner to be the next Scottish Labour deputy has said the party “must oppose a second independence referendum”, regardless of next year’s Holyrood election result.

Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie said the issue was now a dividing line in the race for the deputy’s job, in which her sole rival is Glasgow City Councillor Matt Kerr.

She said Scottish Labour could not afford to go into another election with an “inconsistent, muddled position on the constitution”, and so should reject independence outright.

Labour should put its own values first, not “cosy up to the SNP”, she said.

Her comments have exposed a growing rift in the party between hard-Union centrists and soft-Union left-wingers.

Ms Baillie is at odds not just with Cllr Kerr, but with Scottish leader Richard Leonard.

Mr Leonard has often said that if pro-independence parties win a majority in the 2021 Holyrood election on a clear platform to hold Indyref, it would be a mandate for a new vote.

He said Scottish Labour would not welcome such a referendum, nor support independence, but as democrats the party would have to accept what people had voted for.

Cllr Kerr said on Sunday that Scottish Labour must “never say never” to Indyref2.

Labour MSP Neil Findlay also said at the weekend that his party should “positively support” Indyref2 if a pro-independence majority of MSPs is re-elected next year.

Mr Findlay, who is leaving Holyrood at the election, also said Labour should argue for a third option of home rule or “devo max’ to be on the ballot paper.

He said his party had been “lazy, curmudgeonly and out of touch” on the issue to date.

READ MORE: Labour MSP: Party should 'positively support' Indyref2 if there is Holyrood majority

But writing in the Scotsman, Ms Ballie said Mr Kerr and Mr Findlay were simply wrong.

She said: “I am clear: Scottish Labour must oppose independence; and oppose a second independence referendum.

“We are a party of devolution and while there is a need to address how we get power closer to people in the nations and regions of the UK, that does not mean backing a referendum with separation on the ballot paper.

“Some in my party are willing to walk into precisely the same trap that David Cameron walked into by agreeing to a referendum on EU membership when he didn’t want to leave.

“Look how that worked out for him.

“Yet my opponent Matt Kerr and his supporters like MSP Neil Findlay now want to define our indyref2 policy position based on Labour being defeated – proposing support for another referendum if the SNP has a majority after the 2021 election.

“They fail to recognise that we are the third party in Holyrood, with only one MP at Westminster - Ian Murray - who won in Edinburgh South because he held firm against any attempt to pander to the SNP. We are fighting for our relevance and our survival.

“At this crucial moment in our party’s history, I am not prepared to toss aside our values, and I am not prepared to be as pessimistic as Mr Kerr.

“I hold Labour members in much higher regard than that. I will never tell our activists who give up their weekends and evenings that their efforts are going to be in vain as I don’t accept that the SNP will have a majority in 2021."

READ MORE: Scottish Labour deputy candidate facing disciplinary action

Ms Baillie added: "We must oppose another referendum not only because it would divide communities and leave public services neglected once again, but because if we don’t support the ends then we don’t support the means."

Ms Baillie, who was sacked by Mr Leonard in 2018 for briefing against him, has the support of most Labour MSPs and Mr Murray.

An SNP spokesperson said: "The Labour party clearly hasn’t learned a thing if it thinks it can ignore democracy and deny people in Scotland a choice over our future.

"And with more and more sensible Labour voices open to supporting an independence referendum, it’s clear that Scottish Labour's position is completely unsustainable."