KEZIA Dugdale has said “it is not inconceivable” that she could support Scottish independence if there was a vote for the UK to leave the European Union.
Her admission comes hard on the heels of accusations of hypocrisy for hitting out at the named person scheme after previously being supportive of the contentious legal move.
In an interview with the Fabian Society, the Scottish Labour leader said she “would very much like” to remain part of both the UK and EU.
Dugdale was asked where her “loyalty” would be if there was an overall vote to leave in the EU referendum but the majority of Scots wanted to remain.
She told the Fabian Society: “I’ve never contemplated that. I really wouldn’t like to choose, because what I want to do is the best possible thing for Scotland. [I would be] putting Scotland first.”
When pushed on the topic and asked if she would “argue, for Scotland’s sake, against the UK Union?”, the Scottish Labour leader said: “Possibly. It’s not inconceivable.”
Earlier in the interview, Dugdale said: “I see tremendous benefits from the EU to Scotland, so I would do whatever I could to preserve and promote that. The same argument applies to the UK. I would very much like both those unions to stay.”
In a TV election debate this week, Dugdale ruled out a second independence referendum and said her party would vote against one if introduced by another SNP government.
She said: “Our manifesto will make that commitment clear, unlike the Tories who have said they would support a second referendum if the SNP are elected on a manifesto promising one.
“I campaigned as hard as anybody to ensure that Scotland remained part of the UK. The collapse in the oil price showed that the best way to secure our public services is to stay in the UK. I would vote to stay in the UK in any future referendum.”
Tory leader Ruth Davidson said Scottish Labour “simply cannot be trusted to defend the decision of two million Scots to stay part of the UK”.
Davidson added: “The idea that Scotland’s place in the UK is in some way dependent on Britain’s membership of the EU is offensive. Scotland helped build the UK and is an integral part of it – confirmed by the referendum vote just 18 months ago.”
In the Fabian Society interview, Dugdale also spoke of her respect for Nicola Sturgeon, despite regular clashes as opposing party leaders.
She said: “Women owe it to other women to say: ‘Look at that. Isn’t it fabulous?’ It would be completely ridiculous if I wasn’t to recognise how talented she is.
“When I was a Labour researcher and she was health minister, we did cross paths more regularly, in the canteen. She was very, very kind to me then and encouraged me a lot.”
Dugdale also spoke about her private life for the first time.
She told the Fabian Society: “I have a female partner. I don’t talk about it very much because I don’t feel I need to. And there’s something too about how meteoric my career has been.
“I am generally calm, almost serene. I don’t get easily stressed or battered. But I need a bit of stability to do that, and that means my private life is my private life. That’s the thing I just have to have that nobody gets to touch, and that gives me the strength to be calm elsewhere.”
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