LABOUR leader Keir Starmer will visit Edinburgh tomorrow for his first visit to Scotland since taking over from Jeremy Corbyn.
The party chief is set to visit facilities to discuss cutting-edge research into Covid-19.
But his visit comes just days after he claimed there was no need for another independence referendum.
The trip north of the border also comes in the same that Labour party plotters failed to oust beleaguered Scottish boss Richard Leonard from office.
During an interview with LBC on Monday, Starmer was asked if the Union was safe in Labour’s hands. He responded: “Yes, I strongly support the United Kingdom.
“I think it’s in all of our interests to hold together as the United Kingdom and I think dealing with the pandemic has shown that.”
“No-one in the Labour party wants the United Kingdom broken up,” he added.
Asked if he would stand in the way of indyref2, Starmer said: “We will go into the elections in Scotland making the argument for the Union and making the argument that we don’t need a referendum.
“Obviously that election is in May of next year and we’ll make the best case we can between now and then.”
Polls suggest Labour are currently struggling to win over voters, and could even lose MSPs at the election.
But the eight months before voters get anywhere near a polling booth could be brutal, with the party’s vicious internal battles set to intensify after the failed bid to pass a motion of no confidence in Leonard’s leadership.
Following that busted coup, supporters of Leonard are set to replace rebel MSPs on regional lists, with preference given to key workers like carers and nurses.
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