Labour deputy defies Dugdale

Scottish Labour’s second in command has defied his leader by saying he would “not oppose” a second independence referendum.

Deputy leader Alex Rowley has gone against his party’sHolyrood manifesto – which rules out another vote on secession in the next five years – by revealing he will not challenge SNP manoeuvres for independence in the wake of the Brexit of vote.

His boss Kezia Dugdale has stood by the manifesto commitmentin thewakeof theEUreferendum, adding the country does not need “more turmoil, more upheaval and more economic chaos”.

But Mr Rowley said yesterday that Brexit had shifted the debate.

He wrote: “My response is that I would not oppose such a referendum.

“I accept the SNP were clear in their manifesto that the Scottish Parliament would have the right to hold another referendum if there was a ‘significant and material change’ in the circumstances that prevailed in 2014, such as Scotland being taken out of the EU against our will.”

He said a second referendum “in the current circumstances of Brexit, is a very different proposition from that of 2014”.

The SNP’s Linda Fabiani said the intervention was “encouraging”.

She added: “Alex Rowley is also right to point out that any such referendum would be a completely different prospect from the 2014 referendum.”