Murray: ‘poisonous’ Indy debate has paralysed Scotland for years
RICHARD Leonard should turn his back on the Jeremy Corbyn era and attempt a “fresh start” for the next Holyrood election, the new shadow Scottish secretary has said.
Ian Murray said the Scottish Labour leader, who was an avid supporter of Mr Corbyn, should “wipe the slate clean” and try to move on from recent “disastrous” results. He added that Labour’s position on Scottish independence had been “confused” in the past, and it should oppose both independence and a second referendum.
He said the independence issue was “poisonous” and still paralysed Scottish politics six years on from 2014.
But he said the whole UK Labour movement now understood Scotland better, and appreciated its importance to the party and regaining power.
Mr Leonard lost both Scottish Labour’s MEPS and six of its seven MPS in elections last year as Mr Corbyn led his party to historic reversals over Brexit and against Boris Johnson.
Mr Murray, who quit Mr Corbyn’s frontbench in 2016 in protest over his leadership, was reappointed as shadow Scottish Secretary by new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer this week.
On BBC Radio Scotland, the strongly pro-union MP for Edinburgh South said: “We’ve got to go into the 2021 elections being pretty clear where we stand on the constitution otherwise we won’t get a hearing for the other stuff that we’ve done.
“We’ve seen it’s disastrous. We’ve seen last year, both on the Brexit position and on the confused Scottish position, that these just don’t work with the public because none of the public believe you one way or another.
“The important thing is to do what’s in the right interests of the Labour party, which is what’s always been in the right interest – to keep Scotland in the UK, and to keep the UK together.”
Mr Murray, who previously said Mr Leonard had got his position on the “coattails” of Mr Corbyn, rejected the idea of a new Scottish Labour leader, but said change was needed.
He said Sir Keir’s leadership was “an opportunity” for the Scottish party:
“It’s an opportunity to have a fresh start, to wipe the slate clean, to look at the last five years as not being particularly positive in electoral terms.
“In terms of Richard Leonard being leader of the Scottish Labour Party, in terms of Jackie Baillie being the new deputy, in terms of a new shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, a new leader at UK level and a UK Shadow Cabinet.
“We want to be a much more positive, forward-thinking party, that listens to the public, responds to what they told us on December 12 (General Election) and goes forward as a united party with a policy platform that everyone can attach themselves to.
“That is the fight over the next few years in the run-up to the elections in 2024 at UK level and next year’s 2021 Scottish elections. That’s what we’re all fighting for and we’ll do it together.”
In a separate interview with the Press Association, Mr Murray said the UK Labour movement had undergone a “step change” on Scotland.
He said that in his recent failed bid to become UK deputy leader he toured the country making the case that a Labour government runs through Scotland, and the party had to be clear why it was against independence, and “that we shouldn’t facilitate the means if we disagree with the ends... in terms of a second independence referendum, that there is no mandate.
“And be pretty clear the Labour
Party in Scotland can only really start to achieve something when people in Scotland believe that we believe what we’re saying in terms of independence.
“I know that Keir and Gordon Brown have spent a lot of time with each other [on] constitutional stuff, there is no doubt that federalism and the constitutional convention is now right at the top of Keir’s agenda.
“I think the first time I became shadow secretary of state for Scotland, everyone was still spinning and reeling off the 2015 result (when Labour lost 40 of its 41 seats in Scotland).
“We’re now six years on from the (independence) referendum and we’re still talking about it and it’s still poisonous and it’s still paralysing the entirety of Scottish politics.
“So the challenge is great. The big positives now, as opposed to then, is the entirety of the UK Labour movement understands the importance of Scotland, not just to the UK Labour Party, but to the Scottish Labour party as well, and understands why Scotland needs to get back on the park.”