Dugdale rules out new Tory alliance

Labour chief rejects the return of Better Together if second poll held

KEZIA Dugdale has ruled out another cross-party Unionist campaign along the lines of Better Together if there is a second independence referendum.

After thousands of Labour supporters deserted the party when it allied with the Tories in 2014, the Scottish Labour leader said she “cannot imagine” it ever happening again.

At the Scottish Labour conference in Perth, her deputy Alex Rowley also said Labour would “never stand on any platform with the Tory party” because of its austerity policies.

Nicola Sturgeon has said a second referendum is “all but inevitable” if Scotland is dragged out the EU single market by Brexit.

Ms Dugdale will today attempt to sharpen up her party’s position on the constitution by saying Scottish Labour will “never” support independence while she is leader.

She has previously ruled out support only for the current parliament, which runs to 2021.

Squeezed between the SNP and Tories, Scottish Labour yesterday adopted a third way on the constitution: a federal plan to give Holyrood vastly more powers within the Union.

Delegates backed Ms Dugdale’s idea of a Labour-led “People’s Constitutional Convention” to devise a new federal UK and a “new Act of Union” by 2020.

Speaking at a fringe event later, Ms Dugdale said if there was another referendum, there was a case for putting a third option on the ballot paper for federalism.

She said: “I don’t want there to be another referendum, but I can certainly see a legitimate case that if there were to be a referendum, that you might put something as strong as a federalist solution within the United Kingdom on the ballot paper.” Asked if there would be another Better Together, she said: “I cannot imagine that happening.”

She added it would be a “huge mistake” if Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson led a future Unionist campaign.

Instead of a cross-party campaign, there could be a non- political one along the lines of Stronger In in last year’s EU referendum.

Ms Davidson said: “On the day Labour is licking its wounds over its humiliation in the Copeland by-election, the Scottish party decides the way to reconnect with the real lives of ordinary families is a sleep-inducing plan for People’s Constitutional Convention and yet more upheaval to our precious union.

“This is a party that doesn’t know when to stop digging.”

Former Liberal Democrat Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael congratulated Labour on their “long, slow walk to federalism”, adding: “We need a thorough refresh of the UK system of governance. There needs to be a Constitutional Convention – once again well-established LibDem policy.”

An SNP spokesman added: “Labour would prefer decades of Tory rule in a hard Brexit Britain than allowing Scotland to choose our own future. That’s exactly the attitude that has caused voters to abandon Labour in their droves.”

Deputy UK Labour leader Tom Watson will today back the federalism plan and say all the nations and regions of the UK should get more powers.

‘‘ I can certainly see a case that if there were to be a referendum... you might put something as strong as a federalist solution on the ballot paper