Mcdonnell says Labour would allow indyref 2
Labour would grant Scotland a second vote on independence, the Shadow Chancellor has said. John Mcdonnell said it “would not block” another referendum in an interview at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has said a future Labour government would not block a second Scottish independence referendum.
In an interview with journalist Iain Dale at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Mr Mcdonnell said any decision about holding a vote would be up to the Scottish Parliament.
He said :“It will be for the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish people to decide that.
“They will take a view about whether they want another referendum. Nicola Sturgeon said by late next year or the beginning of 2021.”
He added: “We would not block something like that. We would let the S cottish people decide. That’s democracy.
“There are other views within the party but that’s our view.”
Mr McDonnell’ s view contradicts that of Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard.
In an interview on the BBC’S Sunday Politics Scotland in March, Mr Leonard said if Labour took power in Westminster the par - ty would refuse to grant a“Section 30 order” giving Holy rood the power to hold another vote.
He added: “What we said in the manifesto at the 2017 election was that there is no case for, and we would not support, a second independence referendum.”
However, Mr Mcdonnell said on Tuesday: “The Scottish Parliament will come to a considered view on that and they will submit that to the government and the English Parliament itself.
“If the Scottish people decide they want a referendum that’s for them.”