Corbyn independence claims ‘fake news’ says Leonard
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard has branded claims Jeremy Corbyn supports the calling of a second independence referendum “fake news”.
In an election debate on Sky News yesterday, SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford claimed the UK Labour leader would allow a referendum if it was the price of taking power.
The Scottish Labour leader shot back, branding the claims “rubbish”.
Labour has been accused of a lack of clarity over its position on a second independence poll, with Mr Corbyn claiming he would not support a referendum in the “early years of a Labour Government” at his party’s recent manifesto launch.
Mr Blackford said he thought the Labour leader would allow another vote, describing him as a “democrat at heart”.
He said: “Jeremy is not hostile to Scottish independence, he’s a democrat at heart, I truly believe that.”
Mr Leonard, interrupting the SNP candidate, said: “That’s plainly rubbish. I’m sorry to say, but this is a complete fake news story that you are inventing.
“Jeremy Corbyn is opposed to the creation of a separate Scottish state. Jeremy Corbyn does not support the calling of a second independence referendum.”
Mr Blackford said denial of another vote would be “ignoring the votes of Scots”.
Tory MSP Jamie Greene, who was also on the panel, said the two leaders were engaging in “neverendum talk”.
He added: “People are sick of it.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie agreed with Mr Greene, accusing the SNP of putting independence ahead of stopping Brexit.
He said: “That’s what the SNP has always been about. You were late to the party, you were late to the campaign to stop Brexit.”
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie had been invited to take part in the debate but he tweeted that he had dropped out of the show after being told there would be no women on the panel.
Mr Harvie urged broadcasters and political parties to get better at ensuring diversity.
“I had been invited onto Sky’s #ALLOUTPOLITICS election debate at 10am today, but despite our flagging this in advance they confirmed this morning that it’s a manel,” wrote the Glasgow MSP.
“It’s not possible for us to swap our speakers at such short notice, so regrettably there will be no @scotgp voice.”
He added: “All broadcasters & political parties need to get better at this - ourselves included. We always try to avoid taking part in manels, or making them happen. Sometimes line-ups are only confirmed at the very last minute, but big set-piece debates like this involve lots of planning.
“Pretty galling to be the ones flagging the problem up in advance, yet be left having to decide to pull out when I was minutes away from arriving.”
Sky News correspondent James Matthews responded to Mr Harvie on the social media platform.
He wrote: “Our team flagged the difficulty on this one yesterday and asked if Lorna, your co-leader, was available.
“Given she was doing radio interviews this morning, it would have been helpful had she appeared with us.”