Pro-Indy writer votes for Labour

ALASDAIR Gray has revealed that he voted for the Scottish Labour party yesterday.

The pro-independence literary legend, who is wheelchair-bound, was accompanied to the polls by a friend.

“I was friendly to the supporters of the SNP, the Greens and the Labour party. I was equally friendly to all of them,” he told the Glasgow Times.

“I would normally in the past have voted the SNP but I decided today I would vote for the Labour party.

“I don’t know if there is much of a chance, but it is something. Labour’s politics now are very much the kind I would like to see implemented.

“I have been voting for SNP steadily. But I felt that since Labour wasn’t doing so well...”

Gray has been a vocal supporter of Scottish independence throughout his career, a vein that is explored through much of his work.

“I am a big supporter of Independence,” said Gray. “But I rather regret the fact that the party in Holyrood is not taking what strikes me as a properly independent line.”

Although he voted, Gray said that he is not as politically active as he has been previously.

“I don’t stay politically active,” he said. “All I do is vote. I wrote a number of pamphlets supporting the Scottish National Party, and if I were to write a pamphlet now, which I thought of doing, it would be highly critical of the Scottish National Party.

“Corbyn’s politics are very much in line with my old. I’m very pleased with him. I think the party wanting to get rid of him makes me feel rather cross with them.

“It seems likely we are going to have a continuation of a Tory prime minister in Westminster which is a very depressing thought.”

Gray was awarded a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to Scottish literature this week by the Saltire Society, which he told the Glasgow Times that he was “very pleased about”.