THE Scottish Labour leader has come under fire after he confirmed his party would not seek for the UK to re-join the European Union if it came to power.
Anas Sarwar appeared to reverse his position on Brexit in an interview with Andrew Marr on Tuesday, over a year after Labour leader Keir Starmer ruled out reapplying for EU membership.
The LBC host and former top BBC presenter asked Sarwar about Labour’s vision for Britain if it regains power at the next election.
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“We’ve got to say: ‘We stand with workers, but actually Labour will run the country, the way we did the last government if we are elected by the people.’
“We’ve got to say firmly we’re not advocating for [going] back in the European Union.
"We’d like to build partnerships with the European Union.”
Sarwar has previously appeared at odds with his Westminster boss over the issue, with the leader of the opposition taking a bullish stance on Brexit early last year and dropping his past demands for a second referendum to settle the issue.
Asked about Starmer’s comments earlier this year, the Scottish Labour leader refused to say whether he disagreed but added: “I wish we had never left the European Union and I hope we can build as close a relationship as possible going forward.”
The SNP have said the admission shows there is “no route back to the EU for Scotland within Westminster control”.
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Graeme Day, the MSP for Angus, said: “Anas Sarwar used to be a proud European, but now he and Scottish Labour are now officially a Brexit party, along with every other Westminster party in Scotland.”
Earlier in the show, Sarwar tried to paint both the Brexit and independence debates as “culture war” issues which he said were designed to keep the Tories in power.
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