THE Union won’t survive without a strong Labour party, a Tory source has claimed.
The comment came as a memo sent to Michael Gove (below) warned of a “lack of key personnel among those on the ‘No’ side of the independence debate.”
The report – leaked to Bloomberg – was prepared by political consultants Hanbury for a select group of insiders at the heart of the Tory Government.
The analysts warned of “a vacuum of leadership within the Unionist movement which is leaving the campaign rudderless at a key moment”.
One Tory source told The National that while their party had a rudder, and Labour had a rudder of sorts, the “Unionist movement don’t even have a vessel”.
The source added: “Basically since 2014 – arguably the couple of years before too – the Tories were the unionist movement, did the heavy lifting, all the funding, all the boots on the ground.
“But, as we know, that’s only ever going to get you so far.”
They said it was hard to see how the parties could work together in any second independence referendum.
“The Union won’t survive without a strong Labour,” our source said. “But, aside from Ian Murray, there’s nobody and nothing.
“So unless the two sides learn to work together – and how can they when they’re at such loggerheads in Westminster – there won’t really be much of a Unionist movement.”
A Labour source said they thought that if a referendum was called then it was inevitable that the two sides would come together.
They said: “While there isn’t anyone leading a united party campaign at the moment, I don’t think that’s the problem it’s made out to be as there isn’t a referendum campaign underway – and there are non-party pro-UK groups which are very active. If there ever did end up being another referendum then of course people would have to put differences aside.
“The two pressing issues today are Boris Johnson’s unpopularity and Richard Leonard’s unpopularity.
“Labour is key to fixing both because the SNP’s greatest fear is the possibility of a Labour government across the UK – but for Keir to achieve that, it requires Scottish Labour to recover.”
Robert Kilgour, from the pro-Union Scottish Business group, said industry could help make the case.
He said: “From a business perspective, even though they’re naturally focused on the impact of Covid-19, I see only a growing appetite amongst company leaders to speak out against plans to separate Scotland from the UK when what they want is focus on growing back the economy.
“I expect that trend to gather pace in the months ahead as the SNP Government shows its only true priority is breaking up the UK when unity is needed most.”
The firm behind the 21-page memo was set up by Ameet Gill, former prime minister David Cameron’s one-time director of strategy, and Paul Stephenson, who was director of communications for pro-Brexit group Vote Leave.
One of the firm’s partners is James Kanagasooriam, who worked with the Scottish Tories on elections in 2016 and 2017, when they overtook Labour to become the second biggest party in Scotland.
He has been credited with much of the Scottish party’s success.
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