A SCOTTISH Labour MSP’s call for the party to split with London has received a mixed reaction from comrades.
Writing in the Daily Record on Friday, Monica Lennon claimed Scottish Labour wasn’t being taken seriously because UK party structures meant they were subservient to the leadership in Westminster.
And the Central Scotland MSP warned optimistic colleagues that it would be “foolish to think” Labour have yet “hit rock bottom”.
The party’s “long-term losing streak” would, she said, continue unless “epic changes” were made.
READ MORE: Labour won't back SNP Referendums Bill at Holyrood, BBC reports
Throughout the campaign for last month’s General Election, the party seemed unprepared on how to answer questions on indyref2 with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Scottish chief Richard Leonard at times contradicting each other.
Across the UK the party suffered their worst defeat since 1935. In Scotland, they lost all but one of their MPs. In the immediate aftermath of the result, Labour’s governing Scottish Executive Committee agreed to an inquiry – though the precise terms of reference and on who will conduct it until will be decided this month.
Some in the party have called for Labour to look again at its position on a new independence vote.
In her column, Lennon – who has been tipped as a potential future leader – said the party had “failed on an epic scale to convince people we were fit to govern.”
She added: “In Scotland, the party is at its lowest ebb, but it would be foolish to think we have hit rock bottom. Scottish Labour’s long-term losing streak will continue unless we make some epic changes of our own.
“With the 2021 Holyrood election looming, the internal review announced by Richard Leonard will rightly examine what went wrong. We must be honest about our long-term decline. We are the third-largest party at Holyrood but our capacity to shrink is a sure bet, unless we act fast.”
The MSP said her submission to the review would recommend that Labour north of the border should become “a separate political party in our own right.”
She added: “It’s no longer tenable for decisions about Scottish Labour to be taken or undermined by colleagues outside of Scotland.
READ MORE: Labour frontbencher Monica Lennon backs second independence referendum
"The UK link is stopping the Scottish leader from being heard or taken seriously. If we look like a pressure group within a UK party structure, we will continue to be rejected.
“In her parting shot as leader in 2014, Johann Lamont used the damning phrase ‘branch office’ to describe the relationship with the UK party, after the Scottish general secretary was sacked from London.
“However, the branch office continues to this day. At the European elections we had the ridiculous situation where Richard’s face wasn’t allowed to appear on an election leaflet to Scottish voters. Worse was to follow. John McDonnell came to Edinburgh over the summer and contradicted our leader on IndyRef2.
“I am opposed to independence because I believe it will make the poorest Scots poorer, but members in Scotland should decide our position on a referendum.”
Fellow Labour MSP Colin Smyth disagreed. He tweeted: “The party who delivered devolution has failed to adapt our structures and resources to reflect that settlement. But if you advocate separatism in structures and policies such as defence, pensions, you no longer have credibility saying you support devolution not independence.”
There was support from GMB Scotland’s Gary Smith.
He said: “Something needs to give. Scottish Labour is unlikely top survive in its current guise and Scotland desperately needs democratic checks and balances."
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