SOURCES close to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have accused Mhairi Black of lying after she claimed the veteran left winger privately backed Scottish independence.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Black said: “I’m raging at Jeremy. He has totally sold his soul, especially in terms of Scotland.”
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She attacked him for pledging to keep Trident, allowing Welsh Labour to hike up tuition fees in Wales and not promising to undo all of Theresa May’s austerity measures, adding: “He is hypocritical about what arguments he applies where and when.”
She said: “He has sold out in terms of austerity. He has sold out in terms of Scottish independence – because I know that he doesn’t believe the things he says about independence now.”
When asked directly how she knew Corbyn supported independence, Black said: “From talking to him.”
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The website said the Paisley MP was unwilling to comment further.
During the last general election campaign Corbyn told reporters he opposed Scottish independence because it would be “catastrophic” for the Scottish people, adding it would lead to “turbo-charged austerity”.
A source close to the Labour leader told a Scottish Corbynista blog, the Red Robin, that Black’s claims were a “smear”.
It’s “categorically untrue. It just didn’t happen. It is a desperate lie and untruth,” they said.
Though another more moderate Scottish Labour source disagreed: “The problem isn’t so much whether it’s true or not – it’s that Scottish voters already don’t trust Jeremy Corbyn to protect the Union.”
Tory MSPs pounced on the claim, saying it was proof that only they could be trusted to defend the Union.
Constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said: “This is yet more confirmation that Labour isn’t just soft on the independence issue, it doesn’t even care. From Jeremy Corbyn to Kezia Dugdale, it’s clear the party is willing to sell out the two million people who voted No in 2014.”
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