Labour ‘almost certain’ to vote against Brexit deal

SCOTTISH Labour leader Richard Leonard yesterday launched a scathing attack on the European Union, claiming it had driven down economic growth, wages and job security.

Addressing the David Hume Institute in Edinburgh, he set out a radical new policy on Brexit for his party, which he claimed would lead to a ‘reindustrialisation and rebalancing’ of the Scottish economy.

Mr Leonard said that leaving the EU would present Scotland with a host of opportunities which would allow the Government to set its own procurement policy, end zerohours contracts and plan new pay policy objectives.

He even claimed there was growing evidence Labour will ‘almost certainly’ vote against the final Brexit deal in Westminster. His comments suggest a break with his predecessor Kezia Dugdale. She had argued for the UK to remain in the single market and even called for a second EU referendum.

But opponents said last night that Mr Leonard’s latest Brexit intervention had failed to clarify Labour’s position on the EU.

A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: ‘This intervention merely confuses Labour’s Brexit position even further.

‘In the space of a single speech, Richard Leonard goes from imagining what Labour would do if the UK had voted to remain, to addressing the post-Brexit economy.

‘Like the SNP, Labour completely misunderstands the will of the Scottish people on this matter.

‘The public want to see politicians working together to make Brexit a success for everyone, not fantasising about a European socialist Utopia.’