Scottish Labour insists a Section 30 order for a referendum on Scots independence will not be granted should Jeremy Corbyn become prime minister on Friday.
As the election swings into its last week, leader Richard Leonard tried once more to clarify the party’s stance on independence.
He said a majority for pro-independence parties in Scotland in 2021 would be a mandate for a second vote.
He said: “(Jeremy Corbyn) is going to deal with it and say no.
“The SNP doesn’t have a mandate for a second independence referendum.”
“We are saying that we oppose the creation of a separate Scottish state.
“We oppose independence and we therefore are opposed to the holding of a second referendum.
“The reason for that is we think it will be economically devastating.”
It follows Labour candidate for Glasgow North East Paul Sweeney, speaking on Sunday Politics Scotland, who said Labour would not “stand in the way” of a second referendum if independence-supporting parties return a majority to Holyrood in 2021.
Nicola Sturgeon has said the Labour Party would have “questions to answer” if they do not accept the SNP’s post-election demands.
She said: “We won’t put the Conservatives into government, but Labour would then have to get support to get their policies through. I would be offering that support.
“I don’t believe Labour, if against all the odds and what the opinion polls say, they get into a position to govern and implement their manifesto, they would turn their backs on that.”
Scottish Conservative interim leader Jackson Carlaw said: “Paul Sweeney has set it out in black and white. A Labour- SNP pact is being drawn up; it’s just a matter of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. This is what could happen by Friday if Sturgeon and Corbyn succeed.”
“Ian Blackford said that he and Jeremy Corbyn speak regularly, and he doesn’t expect him to oppose the nationalists.”
Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said: “Our teachers, nurses and police officers are working hard day in day out but they don’t get the support they deserve from an SNP government which has independence on the brain.”
pamalik@thecourier.co.uk
