'A heavy duty': Sir Keir Starmer reflects on 10 years since the Scottish independence referendum

Sir Keir Starmer has said there is a "heavy duty" on his Labour government to deliver the change promised to Scotland as he reflected on the tenth anniversary of the independence referendum.

The Prime Minister said he had “long understood” why so many people in Scotland wanted change.

There will be no more money for the NHS without reform, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said. Picture: Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images | Picture: Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images

He was asked about the anniversary, and whether the recent general election result showed voters were finally moving on from the referendum, when he spoke to members of the Scottish Parliamentary Journalists' Association (SPJA) in Downing Street.

Ahead of Wednesday’s anniversary, Sir Keir said: “I think the argument we made into the election was the right argument, which is Scotland needs change, I completely acknowledge that. But that change can be brought with a Labour government.

“That’s the most meaningful, impactful and immediate change that people could vote for and they did. That was the message we carried into the election. We now have 37 Labour MPs [in Scotland].

“But it was a message about change. I actually have long understood why so many people in Scotland want change. I understand that this constantly saying, but you didn’t deliver it in the past is part of the argument.

"But we’ve got to show it can deliver in the future, and it can only deliver in the future, in my view, by changing and making sure that we deliver a changed Scotland.

“I think that is the change with this general election. That puts a heavy duty on this Labour government to deliver the change that we promised, and that's why we're doing the difficult work now.

“Because I want to make sure that, just as I went back 48 hours after the election, effectively to say to Scotland ‘I asked for your vote saying Scotland was important and I'm coming back to double-down on that’. Equally, I want to be able to say in four or five years’ time ‘I asked for your vote on the basis of delivering change and now we're delivering the change that you want’, and that's the way I see it."

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Credit: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire | Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire

Wednesday will mark ten years since the referendum, which took place on September 18, 2014, and saw Scotland vote against becoming an independent country by 55 per cent to 45 per cent. The issue has since dominated Scottish politics and helped drive the SNP’s astonishing electoral success in recent years.

However, the general election in July saw the party slump from 48 MPs in 2019 to just nine, sparking a period of soul-searching over the best route forward.

Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, has called for a special summit of political leaders and civic society to be convened to "break the impasse" over independence and decide the circumstances under which a second referendum would be triggered.

He said it was time to have a "grown up discussion" about the issue, but admitted it would take “bravery” on both sides of the constitutional divide. "In the run up to the ten-year anniversary, I think it's long overdue that senior politicians in London and senior politicians in Edinburgh, and senior figures in civic society, need to get together and break the impasse which exists," he told the SPJA.

"It would serve Scotland well for that to happen, because we can't, in my view, as a society prosper if we have another ten years of people saying 'next time, this' or UK politicians saying 'no, this isn't happening, now is not the time'.

"I don't think either route forward works, and that's why we need to have serious politicians having serious discussions in rooms together to come to a conclusion."

Mr Flynn added: "It's the one constant in Scottish politics. And I think in order to come to a conclusion and to move things forward, we need to understand the framework, and I think that would be of benefit to nationalism as much as it would be to unionism.

"And frankly, it would be of benefit to a whole swathe of the Scottish population who probably don't regard themselves as either, but would like to express their view. I think the time has come for the grown ups to get into the room and work together in the best interests of the Scottish people to get to a conclusion on this.

"Obviously, my views are well known. I want Scotland to be independent - shock horror. But we need to move this forward, and the only way to move it forward is dialogue."

His comments echo those of former SNP MP Stewart McDonald, who argued his party should lead the way “in searching for a universally accepted and codified framework through which constitutional change can be brought about”.

Writing in The Scotsman after losing his seat in July, Mr McDonald said: “There is no shortage of decent, thoughtful people in Scottish public life from across the political spectrum who recognise the need for us to do so, and who I know would welcome the chance to work with us on finding a way through our current constitutional impasse. We must be willing to work with them.”

In Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement states a border poll will be called by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland "if it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the UK and form part of a united Ireland".

However, Sir Keir is unlikely to want to engage with the independence question in Scotland, particularly given the SNP’s weakened position in Westminster.

Former first minister Alex Salmond has separately used the lead-up to the ten-year anniversary to declare he would have stayed on in the role after the 2014 referendum if he knew Scotland would still not be independent a decade later.

Mr Salmond made the decision to step down the day after the vote, but in recent months has described that move as a “mistake”.

“I thought to make a point of departure for the referendum in the future was a right thing for the national movement,” he said in a new documentary by ITV Border. “Looking back, that was a mistake.

“Now, in retrospect, that was a daft thing to do. But then … I thought we were set for independence in a reasonable timescale.”

In comments aired earlier this week, First Minister John Swinney revealed he had reservations about Nicola Sturgeon’s strategy of calling for a second independence referendum immediately after the Brexit vote.

Mr Swinney told the BBC documentary, Salmond and Sturgeon: A Troubled Union, he was concerned about how the SNP could motivate the public for another poll on Scottish independence so soon after the 2014 vote.