ANAS Sarwar has been accused of “offering nothing” to independence supporters as he was grilled on a second referendum in an interview with STV.
The Scottish Labour leader was asked about a number of topics ahead of the General Election, which is expected later this year.
Speaking to STV, Sarwar was asked by host John MacKay under what circumstances a Labour government would offer a second independence referendum.
Sarwar replied: “Well, a couple of things. One is, it’s Nicola Sturgeon that previously said that they have to build a settled will for independence.
“Humza Yousaf then in the leadership election and since has talked about building a settled will here in Scotland. There is no settled will.
“They’ve previously talked about a 60% support for independence.”
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Sarwar’s comments come after a recent Ipsos poll suggested support for Yes is sitting at 53%, while we also told how new polling from FindOutNow for the Alba Party put Yes in the lead by four points on 52%.
The Scottish Labour leader added that he was making a “different appeal” to voters and continued: “If you look at what Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond did in the run-up to 2007, they didn’t somehow change their position on the constitution, they recognised that the vast majority of people didn’t support their constitutional position.
“But they said directly to people, you may disagree with us on the ultimate constitutional destination but let us through good government and competence try and persuade you.
“Now, they have failed in that regard with every institution now being weaker after 17 years of an SNP government.
“So I am saying directly to people, I don’t support independence, I don’t support a referendum but my goodness do I recognise why you want to run a million miles away from this rotten Tory government.”
Asked explicitly if a Labour government “might allow” a second referendum on independence, Sarwar said: “No. No, not at all.
"We have to demonstrate through good government that we can make the UK Government work in the interests of people here in Scotland and I think people will want to give an incoming UK Labour government that chance to deliver that change and then I actually think people will want change come that election in 2026.
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“But let me be really clear, we may ultimately disagree on the final destination for Scotland but on this part of the journey we all agree we need change so let’s work together, deliver that change and allow us to demonstrate that we can have a government across the UK and here in Scotland that can work in the interests of everybody across our country and therefore demonstrate that politics can work rather than having to go down that route being suggested by the SNP.”
Reacting to the interview on Twitter/X, SNP MP Pete Wishart commented: “Anas Sarwar again on @ScotlandTonight saying he will offer nothing to independence supporters other than to try and turn them into good Unionists. Labour are a hard Unionist party.”
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