Labour insists there's no new U-turn on call for referendum

Published on Monday 12 May 2008 10:44

LABOUR today insisted there had been no new U-turn on the call for a referendum on Scottish independence.

And senior figures spoke out in support of Wendy Alexander amid speculation her leadership could not last much longer.

Ms Alexander went on television again yesterday, a week after she first dropped her bombshell demand for an immediate referendum to call the SNP's bluff, and sought to clarify her position after seven days of party turmoil.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown told a Sunday newspaper he was "unpersuaded" of the case for a referendum, but Ms Alexander said Mr Brown had backed her right as Labour's leader in the Scottish Parliament to decide on the approach to be taken north of the Border.

She also repeated her central argument that Scots should be allowed a vote on the country's constitutional future.

Ms Alexander said the SNP had made it clear it would block any attempt to stage a referendum earlier than its planned date of 2010, but she said Labour MSPs would not defeat the Bill to pave the way for a referendum.

She added: "We have said the people of Scotland should be allowed to speak and we will not vote down the opportunity for Scots to speak, but we will want to harry them on things like what the question is, what the process is."

Former minister Malcolm Chisholm, Labour MSP for Edinburgh North & Leith, said he could not understand weekend headlines claiming there had been a U-turn in Labour's position. He said: "The position has been the same throughout the last week.

"We believe in the right of the Scottish people to have a say and we will continue to harry the SNP on this."

He said he was amazed at the SNP arguing Ms Alexander should resign because Labour in Scotland and Labour in London were taking different positions.

He said: "No-one is saying Gordon Brown takes an identical position to Wendy Alexander. That's what devolution is all about.

"Wendy Alexander has a right to take a position on this issue and Gordon Brown recognises that right."

Many of Labour's Westminster MPs have been privately critical of Ms Alexander, some saying she should resign.

But Falkirk West MP Eric Joyce today defended her and her right to take a different stance from Westminster.

He said: "Wendy Alexander is the leader in the Scottish Parliament and she has to set her own strategy.

"She is an imaginative and bold leader in Scotland and I think she has a good future ahead of her."

The SNP branded Ms Alexander the "Comical Alexander of Scottish politics".

An aide to the First Minister said the situation was "utterly farcical". And he added: "As far as we are concerned, it is the best possible birthday present Labour could have given the Scottish Government."