A SCOTTISH Labour grandee has admitted he is on the cusp of supporting independence after Keir Starmer’s decision to back Brexit.

Former Labour MP and MSP John Home Robertson slated a recent speech by the Labour leader as “disappointing” and “discourteous” to his hosts, Edinburgh University’s Mackintosh Memorial committee.

Home Robertson also called into question Starmer’s endorsement of Richard Leonard, the leader of the party’s Scottish branch office.

Writing in The Herald, former politician Home Robertson said: “It’s a mistake to lambast Scottish separatism while apparently accepting the uglier phenomenon of Brexit separatism. And perhaps it was a mistake to endorse Richard Leonard’s leadership of Scottish Labour.”

READ MORE: Boris Johnson sparks anger by laughing about No-Deal Brexit at Covid conference

He continued: “This diehard Labour loyalist, living in the Tory Borders, is going to find it extremely difficult to vote for the Brexit-supporting candidate of a party led by Mr Leonard. But I just might be tempted by a party offering a credible fast track back into the European Union. I wonder if Nicola Sturgeon can work that miracle?”

Commenting on Home Robertson’s intervention, SNP depute leader Keith Brown said: “Labour, along with the LibDems, have now joined the Tories in becoming effectively pro-Brexit parties, helping drag Scotland out of Europe against our will.

“Home Robertson is the latest in an increasing number of Scottish Labour supporters who recognise independence is the only avenue open to Scotland to resume our place as a full member of the EU.

“And he has also called out the reality that, regardless of whatever Scottish Labour claim they want, they will do as they are told by London.

“The people of Scotland don’t trust either the Tories or Labour to do what’s right for our Scotland – that’s why the polls show an increasing majority of Scots support our right to choose a better future as an independent country.”