Watson: no referendum block from Labour MPs

Labour MPs will respect the Scottish Parliament’s decision on another independence referendum, the party’s deputy leader said.

MSPs are poised to give Nicola Sturgeon their backing for a fresh poll on the constitution.

On a visit to Edinburgh’s Serenity Cafe, where left-wing Labour group Momentum met a few months ago, Tom Watson said his party were against another vote but would not defy Holyrood’s will.

“There is not an appetite for the referendum, we don’t want the referendum,” he said.

“But obviously if it ends up in the Westminster Parliament we will respect the decision of the Scottish Parliament.”

In an STV interview last month, the Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale refused to say whether MPs should block a Holyrood demand for another referendum.

The First Minister is asking MSPs to give her a mandate to request a section 30 order that will temporarily transfer the power to hold a referendum from Westminster to Holyrood.

The Scottish Government is all but certain to win tonight’s vote.

Mr Watson, who is in Scotland campaigning for May’s council elections, was asked whether the local vote would serve as a proxy ballot for the constitution.

He said that voters are “very sophisticated”.

Meanwhile, Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, has attacked Theresa May for being “unable to gain the confidence of the governments of Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland as she prepares to trigger Article 50”,

He added: “The Prime Minister’s failure to engage with the Scottish Government or to recognise specific and particular concerns has provided an excuse for the SNP to press ahead with its divisive call for a second referendum.”