A LEADING left-wing commentator has given his backing to independence – despite being a member of the pro-Union Labour Party.

Author and journalist Paul Mason said he was “sure” he would vote to leave the UK in a second independence referendum.

He was speaking on the pro-independence online channel Scotonomics when he made the comments.

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Mason, a former BBC and Channel 4 journalist, said: “If I lived in Scotland and was a Scottish national person, with a Scottish identity and could vote, I’m sure I would vote Yes in a referendum.

“But I don’t and I’m stuck with the problem of being an English socialist, living in London and basically a permanent Tory government.”

But he added that the best scenario the Labour Party, of which he is a member, could offer was federalism or devo-max.

Devo-max would see all powers currently reserved to the UK parliament devolved to Holyrood, except for foreign affairs, defence and monetary policy.

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He added: “The party that I am a member of, the best thing, probably the maximum it’s going to offer is federation.

“And I think it should offer federation at the first gambit, i.e. everything except foreign, defence and, unfortunately monetary, unless you’re prepared to go for a Scottish currency, if a no-fault separation in the referendum goes Yes.”

He went on to argue that “economic hardship” was not the main driver of the rise of the far-right globally in recent years, arguing it was instead the “breakdown of…neoliberalism”.

“Neoliberalism, in my mind, broke down in 2008, it’s main springs blew apart,” he said.

“There’s no spontaneous mode of accumulation, dynamo of production anymore. It’s all kept alive by quantitative easing and debt.”

Mason had previously urged Labour to embrace independence and described the idea as a "very exciting prospect" in a 2021 Question Time appearance.