WITH a spring in his step after new polls showed a narrowing of the gap between Labour and the Tories, Jeremy Corbyn will today tell Scots: “you’ll have had your referendum”.

In the foreword to the Scottish Labour manifesto, launched today in Edinburgh, Corbyn will commit his party to standing firm in opposition to another vote on the constitution.

It’s something of a U-turn for the party chief.

In March Corbyn said he was “absolutely fine” with Scots having a second independence referendum.

That led to Ian Murray, Labour’s only Scottish MP, accusing his boss of “destroying the party”.

A source close to the Labour leader had told The Guardian: “Westminster blocking a second referendum would give the SNP exactly what they want – more grievance.”

When Corbyn tried to defuse the situation, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “No, we are not in favour of a referendum.

“I was asked if in Westminster we would block the holding of a referendum. I said no. If the Scottish Parliament decided they wanted to have a referendum then it would be wrong for Westminster to block it.”

Two weeks later Nicola Sturgeon won the backing of a majority of MSPs to seek a section 30 order – the legal instrument needed to organise a referendum.

In the manifesto Corbyn is clearly willing to risk “more grievance”.

He writes: “Labour is opposed to independence because it would inflict turbo-charged austerity on the Scottish people. We will stand firm in our opposition to a second referendum because we know that together we’re stronger and unity is still our strength.”

He says only Labour and the trade unions can offer “the hope and the contemporary solutions to society’s problems, adding: “Nationalism, in whatever form, does not.”

The manifesto itself will say the SNP “needs to respect the verdict of the majority of Scots in 2014 and abandon its divisive plan to re-run the referendum.

"It needs to get on with the day job and reverse the cuts being inflicted on Scotland’s public services.”

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Politics, SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson said that regardless of what Theresa May or Corbyn might say or do, the Scottish Government already had a mandate to hold a second referendum.

“This is an issue that was already determined in the last Scottish parliament election in Scotland. The party that went to the country with a manifesto commitment that we should have a choice in this country if we were taken out of the EU against our will was the manifesto of the SNP who won the election.

"The parties that opposed that lost the election.”

He added: “The public has already given a mandate to the Scottish Government and since then of course the Scottish Parliament has endorsed that position. “ When asked if he wanted to hold that referendum in late 2018/2019, Robertson replied “yes”.

Reports yesterday suggested the Scottish Tories have drawn up a proposal for a “grand coalition” of Unionist parties, led by Ruth Davidson, ahead of the next Holyrood elections.

“Our bottom line is the preservation of the Union,” a Tory source told a Sunday newspaper. “It is time to start raising the prospect of a real pro-Union alternative to the nationalists.”

“There may be massive policy differences between the Conservatives and the other parties of the Union but even if it means compromise we need to work together with a clear view to what happens after the SNP,” the source said.

A Scottish Labour spokesman dismissed the possibility of the Better Together party, saying: “The Tories appear to have conceded defeat in the 2021 Holyrood elections already.

"Our focus is on winning the Labour-SNP two-horse race in three weeks’ time.”

Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie said: “We may agree on opposing independence, but that does not mean we share the Conservative vision for the country’s future.”

An SNP source said the Tories remained “toxic for a huge swathe of Scottish voters”, adding: “Suggesting they could lead a government despite being by far the second-biggest party simply underlines their arrogance and contempt for the electorate.”

Last Thursday the Tories launched their Scottish manifesto, with opposition to independence a central plank in their offer to voters.

But in England, it is the planned changes to social care, pensions and the means-testing of the winter fuel payment that have dominated discussion of the party’s offer to voters, and helped Corbyn achieve some of his best poll ratings yet.

The changes would mean the value of a person’s house was included in their assets when recouping the cost of care at home, with protection for £100,000 of the total.

Four polls for Sunday newspapers put Labour between 33 and 35 per cent, including Yougov, which has Corbyn just nine points behind May.

Corbyn claimed his message was “getting through” to voters.