Gray hints at policy U-turn with mention of referendum

Published on Tuesday 29 September 2009 02:12

SCOTTISH Labour leader Iain Gray has signalled he could hold a referendum on Scottish independence if he becomes First Minister, in a dramatic shift from official party policy.

The leader of the Labour group at Holyrood acknowledged that, in future, Scots would want to debate their constitutional future – although he insisted this should be done when the economy was out of recession.

His call threatened to echo the row created in the Labour Party after its former leader in Scotland, Wendy Alexander, told the SNP to "bring it on".

Ms Alexander's intervention infuriated Prime Minister Gordon Brown and since then Labour has studiously eschewed using the "r" word.

Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy also revealed the Cabinet had not discussed a referendum and he did not regard it as a priority. But in a passionate speech attacking First Minister Alex Salmond's record, Mr Gray signalled a shift away from Labour's policy on dismissing a referendum.

He said: "The day may well come when the people of Scotland want a referendum to settle their constitutional future once and for all. But not now, in the midst of a recession. And not on a question rigged by the SNP."

Mr Gray later said he would never rule out asking the question about Scottish independence.

He also set out the preconditions for a referendum, stating: "There would have to be the desire, it would have to be something that would settle things forever or for the foreseeable future. It would certainly have to be on a question that is a fair and straight question and not one that was rigged and deliberately holds out on a decision point which is what we have from the SNP at the moment."

The SNP seized on Mr Gray's comments, accusing him of plunging the Labour Party into further chaos.

SNP MSP Kenny Gibson said: "

What he has failed to realise is that by the time of the referendum economic forecasts predict that Scotland's economy will be moving out of recession. How can he oppose a referendum on the basis of his own logic without undermining his own party?"

Mr Gray also used his speech to say the SNP was not a party but a "campaign". He launched a full-scale assault on the First Minister, saying: "While Scots are doing everything they can to get through the recession, what is Alex Salmond doing?

"He's in his Bute house Brigadoon. Picking furniture for imaginary embassies round the world. And choosing curtains for his office in the United Nations. Planning TV schedules for SBC – that's the Salmond Broadcasting Corporation."

Mr Murphy had also attacked the Tories in his keynote speech. He said the only choice voters in Scotland faced come the next election was Labour or the Tories.

He said: "In Scotland, the Tories are hated by many because of their past and distrusted by most because of their present. The Conservative Party still doesn't get Scotland – but Scotland gets them."