IndyRef2 plan is ditched
Labour leader’s plan to hold conference on new poll is axed after stormy meeting
Scottish Labour descended into civil war yesterday after leader Richard Leonard’s plan for a spring conference was rejected at a crunch meeting of his party’s governing body.
The Scottish Executive Committee had been expected to back his proposals for a gathering in May which would decide their position on a second independence referendum.
But instead, it was rejected in favour of an “away day” to discuss federalism during a marathon five-hour meeting in Glasgow.
Leonard referred to the “intolerable behaviour” of his own MSPs and called details of his conference plan leaked to the media “a lie”.
Several leading f igures, including shadow health secretary Monica Lennon and MSP Neil Findlay, want the party to back IndyRef2.
But others, such as Jackie Baillie and Ian Murray, are determined to maintain full support for the union. Leonard tried to play down the rejection of his proposals. He said: “Representatives of all sections of our par ty – constituency delegates, trade unions, socialist societies and elected representatives – agreed to consult on the outcome of last month’s general election.
“As part of that, our policy on federalism will be developed to ensure it resonates with people across Scotland.
“The result of this consultation will form the basis of the approach Scottish Labour will take as we look forward to putting our positive case before the people of Scotland at the 2021 Holyrood elections.
“As I set out shortly after last month’s election, I want Scottish Labour to hold a swift, evidence-based review of the result and the lessons we must learn as a party.
“We must in particular consider our position on the constitutional questions which dominated the general election campaign – namely Scotland’s constitutional future and our relationship with the European Union, drawing on our tradition as the party of devolution.”
The SNP capitalised on the division. Kirsty Blackman MP, the party’s Westminster deputy leader, said: “This is a huge blow to Richard Leonard, who appears to be Scottish Labour leader in name only, having been fatally undermined by his own party’s executive committee.
“Scotland is about to be dragged out of the EU against our will by a Tory Prime Minister we didn’t elect, after a decade of Tory austerity governments that we didn’t vote for.
“If, in the face of that devastating reality, Labour sides with the Tories again and seeks to deny the people of Scotland a choice over our future, they will sink even further into irrelevance.”
Meanwhi le , Leona rd a l so announced the creation of an election review team to study what went wrong with their campaign.