RICHARD Leonard is under significant internal pressure to reverse Scottish Labour’s “outright opposition” to a second independence referendum following a bombshell poll showing record support for Yes.
Brian Roy, former general secretary of the party, said it was now a question about “how and when another vote should take place”. He highlighted the findings of a new survey putting Yes support at 58% and backing for a second vote at 64% within the next five years if the SNP win a majority in the 2021 Holyrood election.
Roy wrote: “Scottish Labour’s outright opposition to a second independence referendum is looking increasingly unsustainable. You can oppose indy and #indyref2 while still accepting its democratic legitimacy. The question now, for me, is how and when another vote should take place.”
The poll by Ipsos MORI for STV, published yesterday, put Labour on a record low of winning just 13% of votes in the Scottish Parliament elections in both the constituency and regional parts of the ballot.
READ MORE: New poll shows independence ‘the settled will’ of most Scots
It also brought bad news for Leonard’s own performance as Scottish Labour leader, putting his approval ratings at -25.
And it also suggested he was struggling to cut through to Scots voters, with 38% of those questioned saying they do not know whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with him.
Roy’s intervention comes just a week after the STUC backed the country’s right to hold a second independence referendum should the controversial power grab bill be passed in Westminster against Holyrood’s wishes.
In a briefing note sent by the organisation to MSPs the organisation, which is the voice of the trade union movement in Scotland, said that should the Scottish Parliament refuse to back the Internal Market Bill and the UK Government press on with it, “it makes the case for a second independence referendum unanswerable.”
MSPs last week voted to refuse to give their consent to the bill while the UK Government has said it will press ahead with the legislation.
The STUC briefing set out why it was opposed to the bill which as well breaking international law also aims to create a common standard of rules across the UK once powers return from the EU to Westminster.
Its measures have already been criticised by farmers, education bodies, parliament committees and academics as a risk to devolution and food standards.
Leonard promised a review of its position on a second independence referendum after Labour was left with just one Scottish Westminster seat after winning its lowest general election vote share in Scotland in the modern era, at 18.6%.
Some senior figures including MSPs Monica Lennon and Neil Findlay said the party should drop its opposition to a new independence vote following the dismal election result.
Leonard was forced last summer into accepting that the party could support a fresh referendum after John McDonnell, the then shadow chancellor, unexpectedly announced that policy. But in June rather than adopt a position more open to one, Leonard adopted a tougher hardline opposition.
Critics and commentators at the time said he was out of touch with the mood among Scots amid a series of polls showing rising support for independence.
The new hardline position against a second independence vote was announced after Jackie Baillie, a prominent figure in the pro-Union Better Together campaign ahead of the 2014 referendum, was elected deputy Scottish Labour leader.
It led to a number of pro-independence Labour supporters, who joined under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of UK Labour, criticising the stance and publicly quitting the party.
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