Labour support for independence

Sir, – With reference to Willie Young’s letter (May 12), I would suggest Labour’s best hope of achieving a Scottish comeback would be to fully separate from their Westminster counterparts.

At present the Labour Party in Scotland are Scottish by name alone. Anas Sarwar has to (and will) follow direction from the national party and will only ever be a puppet leader controlled by Sir Keir Starmer.

The losses the Labour Party have suffered at the polls in Scotland since 2014 can be directly attributed to their alliance with the Tories during the 2014 independence referendum. This alliance to a degree continues today, with Labour siding with the Tories at every turn if it means thwarting the SNP, as was witnessed in Aberdeen itself a few years ago with the previous Labour/Tory council alliance leading to the suspension of the nine Labour councillors involved.

It always amazes me that Labour would rather support a party whose policies the majority of Labour members despise, over the SNP, whose ideals are more akin to those of traditional Labour, all because of the issue of independence.

I believe many traditional Labour voters in Scotland also believe that independence is the best way forward for Scotland, and it would do the Scottish Labour Party no harm if they, if not support independence, at least took a neutral stance on the issue, and helped call for a fresh referendum so the people could decide again in this much-changed world we now live in.

But that, I suspect is wishful thinking. Considering the national Labour Party has no concern over the havoc wreaked on the UK with Brexit, I guess Scottish Labour care little for the damage being done to Scotland by the Westminster Tories! Douglas Black, Alford.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar together with his UK boss Sir Keir Starmer.