FORMER shadow Scotland Office minister Paul Sweeney has warned Labour not to embrace “hyper” Unionism after Keir Starmer underlined the party’s staunch opposition to a second independence referendum this week.
It was reported recently that the Labour leader’s advisers were calling on him to make the party the “voice of the Union” – and this week he backed Scottish Labour’s unconditional rejection of another referendum.
One of the UK’s top political scientists has said Starmer’s opposition to indyref2 is his “first mistake” since being elected leader – particularly as it comes days after a Panelbase poll found 43% of Scots who voted Labour at December’s election would back independence for Scotland.
Paul Sweeney won the Glasgow North East seat in 2017, but lost it to the SNP in December
Today The National also reports that some members have quit over the indyref2 stance, with one activist who spoke at Scottish Labour’s election campaign launch last year ending his membership over the matter.
Another member said he knew many comrades had left the party over the position in recent weeks.
Under Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s position was not to allow a referendum in the first few years of their government – but beyond that, not stand in the way of one being held.
READ MORE: Scottish Labour in turmoil as members quit over indyref2 stance
Now Sweeney has joined party figures warning Labour against the position, calling for Labour and the SNP to work together on gaining more powers for Holyrood and opposing the “common enemy” of the Tories.
He called on Starmer to make Labour the voice for the “reconciliation” of the UK.
The former MP, who said he was still firmly opposed to indyref2 and independence, told the Daily Record that Labour should not come down “on one side of a culture war”.
He told the newspaper: “It’s unhelpful when you are just coming down with a blunt oppositionalist position. I don’t think the emphasis or attitude is right.
“Optimism is much better.”
Sweeney said Starmer’s leadership would win back Tory voters without using “hyper-Unionist messaging” and expressed concern over “binary trench warfare” on constitutional matters.
“It doesn’t make sense to me. It needs to be a much more gentle and empathetic position.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer declares Labour's unconditional opposition to indyref2
“We are still stuck in the trench warfare of 2014. It’s not helpful, it’s toxic.”
Labour were firmly opposed to Scottish independence in the run-up to the 2014 referendum, when they had 41 seats in Scotland. At the 2015 General Election they lost 40 of those seats to SNP MPs.
In 2017 the party won back another six constituencies, but in December again lost them to the SNP – leaving Ian Murray, once again, as the sole Labour MP in the country.
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