KEIR Starmer needs to think carefully about independence because "it isn't going to go away", a former Scottish first minister has said.

Henry McLeish, who led the Scottish Executive for Labour after the death of Donald Dewar, also said the party should step up and "give the SNP a run for their money".

He told Times Radio: "Keir has got to think this one through because it's so easy to say, 'look, we don't want a referendum and now we're actually saying because of the pandemic, because of recovery it shouldn't be now'. It's not going to happen now. But the problem for Labour and problem for the Conservatives, it isn't going to go away either."

McLeish went on to say Starmer is in a difficult position as he has to appeal to Brexiteers, while most Scots voted to stay in the EU. He added: "We're very supportive of the European Union in Scotland. It was a gross insult, Brexit. Now Keir – UK wide – has got to be careful, because he doesn't want to offend Brexiteers as he moves forward.

"On the other hand, we are offering constitutional commissions that we've offered before. I think we've got to be bold and I think it's not about calling SNPs Bluff, because there's a million votes behind them every time you do that."

It comes as a YouGov poll revealed 60% of UK Labour members back indyref2, breaking with the messaging from the leadership of the party, which has been steadfastly against another referendum.

READ MORE: Keir Starmer 'out of touch' as 60 per cent of Labour members back indyref2

McLeish also said refusing Scots a referendum "looks like a denial of democracy" and said the Union needs to adapt in the next three years before indyref2 is held.

He added: "We've got to chart out what is the way forward for Scotland? And look, we do live in an interdependent world and why can't we have a vision of a changed Union?

"For me, there's not going to be a referendum in Scotland for at least three years – that's the common sense analysis of where we are – and instead, what we should be saying is, 'there will be a referendum sometime, what positions are going to be adopted?'

"I think that what you've had over the last 14 years, is not a campaign about the future of Scotland, you've had a campaign about independence. What the traditional parties have got to come up with – especially Labour – is to say Scotland can remain in the Union, but it will have to be a very different Union."

McLeish continued: "The Union should be big enough, after 314 years to say Scotland is way ahead, it seized the opportunity, it’s a modern country. Yes, you can have far more powers. Yes, you can be closer to Europe. Yes, you can have more independence in terms of what you do within the Parliament.

"And the parliament itself, could be the driving force behind all of that. Now, I cannot understand why Labour in Scotland and Labour in the UK can't embrace all of that and literally give the SNP a run for their money."

McLeish is the only first minister in Scotland to have resigned over a scandal. He left his post in 2001 after it was found part of his Westminster ­constituency office had been sub-let. There was no ­suggestion that he benefited financially.

On whether Nicola Sturgeon should have resigned after the Alex Salmond case he said: "As far as I'm concerned, no, she shouldn't have resigned. But what that does throw up is how the parliament needs more powers, because you have a situation in Scotland, where you have virtually a one party nation, a one party parliament, a one party government. And it seems to me that the SNP’s grave mistake is to undermine the work of the Parliament.

"It's got to realise that it's accountable to the parliament, then to the people. Not the other way around."

But McLeish also said there are accountability problems at Holyrood, adding: "I think there are serious, serious problems of accountability and that may be helped by the maturing of the Parliament. I think you're right to identify the fact that nobody has really, you know, said that “Mea culpa”, and there's been a resignation.

"I think that is quite surprising in the circumstance, and it's not necessarily the First Minister we're talking about, it's other people in the system."

READ MORE: Open Minds on Independence #21: Must Scots settle for cronyism and incompetence?

He backed Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar's plan for a "clean up Holyrood" consultation to help hold the government to account. The consultation would explore ideas such as an independent ethics commissioner overseeing government and the right to recall MSPs.

"There should be strong, strong measures to make sure that we are accountable," McLeish continued. "They could be stronger and I would advocate that the parliament should set up – as Anas Sarwar was saying – a commission into how we can strengthen that."

"We've also got, I think, to accept, that if you've been in power for 14 years then the discipline of the party, I think, has been undermined in the SNP. And I think in terms of their attitude towards the Scottish Parliament is not what it should be.
So let's improve the powers of accountability."

McLeish also said the Lord Advocate should be divorced from the Scottish cabinet, adding: "In our modern parliament, I think it's time that one is divorced from the other. But look, it's up to the parliament I think to do that, and I'd like to see the parliament become much more confident. 

"The danger is that we've seen a blurring of the edges between what is Government and what is Parliament and too often Parliament looks – as it is – absolutely controlled by the SNP, supported by the Greens. And that's why in a new Parliament this idea of building effective and real coalitions would be a step forward."

A recent poll by The Scotsman and conducted by Savanta ComRes found Boris Johnson's approval rating among Scots is -28%. McLeish said this is due to the Prime Minister's brand of "muscular Unionism".

"Boris Johnson has emerged and is treating Scotland in my view with much contempt. What you're seeing is this muscular Unionism as it's so called," he said.

"I think it's more like a brutalism of politics. He's basically saying, 'I'll take on the SNP, I'll try and delegitimise them,' but what Johnson's forgetting is that they've got powerful support amongst the Scottish people."

Earlier this month, McLeish said Labour's blanket opposition to indyref2 “smacks of political panic”.

McLeish made the remarks in an interview with the Daily Record, which he also used to urge Labour to fill “the absence of a well thought-out ­alternative”.

He also said that it seemed “likely” that Alex Salmond’s Alba party would gain seats in the upcoming Holyrood elections.

READ MORE: Former FM tells Labour to drop indyref2 opposition as it 'smacks of panic'

He warned Sarwar that “merely ­saying no to a second independence referendum has never been a vote winner”.

He went on: “It sounds negative, is ­interpreted as a denial of democracy and smacks of political panic.

“This has been a problem for Labour, ­especially in the absence of a well thought-out alternative.

“Now is the time for the party to be more self-confident. A new referendum could be some years away.

“Labour should drop its blanket opposition to another referendum. It will happen some time. The party must focus on other questions to be asked of the ­electorate and to ensure that other alternatives, not just independence, are part of any future debate and public vote.

“The real question is whether the Union, the Tory ­Government and the ­Westminster Parliament can produce the radical reforms needed to ­accommodate an ambitious nation like Scotland in a reasonable timescale.”