CORBYN WAVES WHITE FLAG ON UNION
Jeremy C orbyn w as l ast night branded a threat to the Union after pledging to ‘ open d iscussions’ w ith Nicola- Sturgeon on-Indyref 2 if he becomes Prime minister.
The Labour leader said yesterday he would hold immediate talks with the SNP about another Scottish referendum if he wins next week’s general election.
his comments came as Miss Sturgeon indicated she would demand a rerun of the 2014 vote in exchange for propping up a Labour government.
Critics have warned this would lead
to a ‘coalition of chaos’. Miss Sturgeon is today set to launch the SNP’s manifesto, which is expected to repeat her key demand for another referendum between autumn next year and spring 2019.
The First Minister will assert the General Election will ‘strengthen’ the case for another vote on her bid to break up Britain if the SNP wins a majority of seats.
But asked how he would respond to her demands if in No10 after the election, Mr Corbyn said: ‘I’ll obviously open discussions with the Government in Scotland and listen very carefully to what the Scottish parliament says.’
Critics said his bombshell remarks prove the Union is not safe with a Labour government and that his position is ‘chaotic and confused’.
In the interview with Bauer and Global radio stations, Mr Corbyn went on to insist he thinks it would be ‘much better’ to hold a referendum after Brexit talks are complete.
But he failed to rule out caving in to Miss Sturgeon’s demands and agreeing to her timetable for another vote.
‘I would ask them to think very carefully about it and suggest it would be much better to have this question dealt with at the conclusion of what are very important Brexit negotiations,’ he said.
His remarks are humiliating for Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, who has made the defence of the Union the key focus of her entire General Election campaign.
Embarrassingly, it came as Labour launched a campaign advert targeting Tory and Lib Dem voters by pleading for their votes to help ‘tell Nicola Sturgeon to drop her plans for a divisive second independence referendum’.
In a TV interview yesterday, Miss Sturgeon gave her clearest signal yet she would demand a referendum for propping up Mr Corbyn if there is a hung parliament.
The latest polls suggest the Tory lead over Labour has shrunk. This raises the prospect of a minority Labour government if it secures the support of the SNP and Lib Dems – an arrangement Mrs May says would be a ‘coalition of chaos’. Miss Sturgeon said ‘if the arithmetic lends itself to a progressive alliance that can lock the Tories out of government, I would want the SNP to be part of that’.
Scottish Labour later issued a statement insisting ‘Jeremy Corbyn and Scottish Labour have repeatedly said a second independence referendum is unwanted and unnecessary’.
But Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said: ‘Labour voters in Scotland now know Jeremy Corbyn would sell them down the river.’ Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘Much like Jeremy Corbyn’s position on Brexit, his position on independence has become confused and chaotic.’