Ged calls for independence poll
Rutherglen’s former MP has backed calls for a second referendum on Scottish independence.
Labour’s Ged Killen campaigned against a second referendum.
However, he claimed on Twitter that the SNP’s overwhelming success in the General Election means the issue, “should be in the hands of the people of Scotland”.
Killen’s comment reflects the view of several senior Scottish Labour figures, including shadow health secretary Monica Lennon.
He tweeted a link to a story by our sister paper the Daily Record regarding Labour support for a second referendum, and wrote: “Agreed. I campaigned on a promise to vote against indyref2, but I lost.
“The SNP made massive gains on a promise to hold another referendum and, as democrats, we must accept it even if we don’t like it.”
After a flurry of posts, both positive and negative, to his remarks, he responded: “Lots of not unexpected criticism for this.
“Remember it was the Tories who agreed to the first indyref because the SNP won a mandate, but now the pro-UK strategy appears to rely on denying the question, instead of defeating the argument.
“How sustainable is that in the long term?
“Perhaps [David] Cameron should have built in a minimum time period for indyref2, but he didn’t.
“This is an issue that should be in the hands of people in Scotland.
“If the UK Government doesn’t believe the SNP have a mandate, we need a grown-up discussion about what is.
“When I visited Canada with the Scottish Affairs Committee, we were told the power to hold an independence referendum in Quebec lies with the Parliament in Quebec and I was struck by how uncontroversial this was to all sides.
“We need to raise the standard of debate on this issue.”