Split over stance on Union

THE battle to save the Union has become a key dividing line in the Labour leadership contest.

Rebecca Long-Bailey admitted she would cave in to demands from the SNP for another independence referendum – and hit out at the successful crossparty Better Together campaign, which saved the UK in 2014.

But during hustings in Glasgow yesterday, her rivals Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy accused the Nationalists of using demands for separation to ‘mask’ their own failings in government.

Ms Long-Bailey is regarded as the Jeremy Corbyn continuity candidate, while Ms Nandy is seen as the outsider – although she was the strongest in standing up for the Union. Mr Starmer, the

Shadow Brexit Secretary, appeared to waver on whether the Scottish parliament should be given power over referendums.

He said he preferred greater devolution and ‘radical federalism’, adding: ‘The SNP are constantly using the constitutional question to mask the real issues.’

Ms Nandy said: ‘We have to stand up for Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom. We have to stand up to the SNP.

‘As long as they can divide people with grievance and resentment, they will continue to mask their own failures.’

But Ms Long-Bailey warned against rejecting an independence referendum, saying: ‘If the Scottish parliament makes the request for a second referendum, I don’t believe as a democratic party we should refuse that.

‘We can have a positive campaign but can’t fall into the trap we did last time, joining forces with the Conservatives.’