No responsible PM would grant Indyref2, says Starmer

SIR KEIR STARMER has warned that no “responsible” prime minister would grant a second Scottish independence referendum, in a significant shift from his previous position on Indyref2.

Delivering a major speech on devolution, the Labour leader dismissed Nicola Sturgeon’s plan to hold a second vote on leaving the UK soon after May’s Holyrood elections as “misguided”.

He said: “The last thing Scotland needs now is more years of division. So Labour will argue passionately against another independence referendum. We will argue that today, we will argue that tomorrow.”

It was a marked change in tone for Sir Keir, who previously suggested that a SNP majority in 2021 would be a mandate for another independence vote and that whether to seek independence was “questions for Scotland”.

However, he insisted yesterday that it would be “entirely the wrong priority to hold another independence referendum in the teeth of the deepest recession for 300 years”. He added: “That’s why Nicola Sturgeon’s calls for an independence referendum in the early part of the next Scottish Parliament, perhaps even next year, is so misguided.

“Given the damage this would cause, no responsible first minister should contemplate that and no responsible prime minister would grant it.”

Sir Keir made the vow as he unveiled plans for a Uk-wide constitutional commission to examine how “wealth and opportunity can be devolved to the most local level”. Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, will be an adviser to the project. Sir Keir said:

“The commission will make the positive case for the UK and it will champion devolution, but beyond that, it will rule nothing out and I will look at the conclusions without preconceptions.”

He admitted: “Labour has a mountain to climb, nowhere more than in Scotland. And nowhere matters more to me than Scotland. The first step on that journey is to reaffirm Labour’s commitment to a UK based on social justice and solidarity.” He told Scottish voters who have “given up” on the party: “I hear what you’re saying. I understand why you feel as you do.” The Electoral Reform Society said that constitutional change “needs to be more than an attempt to counteract independence support”.

Willie Sullivan, the society director, said: “That’s why the process behind any commission should be open, transparent and genuinely involve citizens.

“The Labour leader has laid down a challenge and the Prime Minister should use this chance to genuinely level up Britain: reforming Westminster, moving power out of the centre and into communities. This is a debate that goes beyond parties.”