LABOUR’s John McDonnell has said the party won’t stand in the way of a second referendum on independence, “if there is a mandate from the Scottish people”.
Addressing party activists in Glasgow, the Shadow Chancellor said it would be up to Scots to “determine the mandate”.
Nicola Sturgeon has said she wants to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence towards the end of next year. She has introduced referendum legislation in the Scottish Parliament but has said she'll be seeking a Section 30 order for the UK government to allow that vote to be legally watertight.
The SNP have repeatedly said that they already have a cast-iron mandate for indyref2.
McDonnell found himself at odds with the Scottish party over the summer, when he said he would not block a vote on the constitution.
Speaking on Friday morning McDonnell described a referendum as “a complete irrelevance”.
But, he added, “if there is a mandate from the Scottish people, and the Scottish people will determine that mandate, we’ve said we’ll not stand in the way of it.”
Asked if he would say yes or no to a request for a Section 30 order from Nicola Sturgeon, the Labour frontbencher said the party would have “enough on our plate” in the early days of government.
McDonnell said: “I think the Scottish people will determine the mandate.
“When we go into power as a Labour Government, we are going to be faced with tackling the issues of Brexit; faced with nine years of austerity; and the existential threat of climate change.”
He added: “A Labour Government would have enough on its hands. Do we really want to distract from the key issues when you have children living in poverty, when you have climate change threatening the very existence of our future generations, when we are inheriting such a mess from the Tory party?”
The SNP MSP Angus McDonald tweeted: “All well and good, but we already have a mandate.”
All well and good, but we already have a mandate. https://t.co/tTnrcSD4La
— Angus MacDonald MSP (@Angus4FalkirkE) September 13, 2019
Last night, speaking to ITV Border, Leonard said that calls for a second independence referendum were “not backed up by popular support”.
Leonard said here would have to be a "demonstrable show that people of Scotland the second referendum."
He it wasn’t “simply about parliamentary majorities” but there “several tests that would need to be satisfied” before a Westminster Government allowed a vote.
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