Kezia: Don’t underestimate nationalism of Leave camp

SCOTLAND’S pro-EU camps were at war last night after Kezia Dugdale compared the Brexit campaign message with the case for Scottish independence.

The Labour leader warned against underestimating ‘populist nationalism’ as she launched the ‘Labour In for Scotland’ campaign alongside high-profile MP Alan Johnson.

Miss Dugdale said next month’s referendum gives her party the opportunity to regroup following the ‘painful defeat’ of coming third behind the Tories in last week’s Holyrood election.

But Nicola Sturgeon last night hit back and said: ‘Can’t [Labour] do anything any more without having a go at the SNP? We’re already making positive case – hope they join us.’

Addressing supporters in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket, Miss Dugdale said Labour was ‘Scotland’s internationalist party’, which believes in ‘shared sovereignty’.

She added: ‘For those of us who campaigned in the Scottish referendum, many of the arguments from those campaigning for Brexit are eerie echoes of those we heard two years ago. We defeated those arguments, but in doing so we learned that populist nationalism should never be underestimated.

‘We know that even faced with the overwhelming weight of evidence, it refuses to concede anything to reasoned argument.’

She also attacked the SNP for failing to make the positive case for Scotland’s place in Europe.

But an SNP spokesman said: ‘The idea that the positive Yes campaign can be compared to Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson’s campaign lacks any credibility.’