‘Westminster should call Scots independence vote’

SHADOW Scottish secretary Ann McKechin has hinted at a Labour policy change over an independence referendum, suggesting Westminster should call a vote if enough Scots demanded it.

She also called on David Cameron to get his eurosceptic MPs under control, because she believed their “English nationalism” could put the survival of the UK at risk.

She was speaking as the favourite to become Scottish deputy leader, Glasgow Central MP Anas Sarwar, made it clear the Scottish Labour Party needed to start acting as a single team if it hoped to regain lost ground against the SNP.

Ms McKechin has previously clashed with Labour peers over their attempts to get the UK government to hold the referendum. Until this conference she had held the line that the Scottish Government should call the referendum.

However, she made it clear, after discussions with business leaders in Scotland, that Alex Salmond’s attempts to delay a referendum could have a major destabilising effect.

She said “a growing number of businesses” were expressing fears about the economic uncertainty created by a delay for a referendum.

“It needs to come through Scottish voices, but if they are calling for a referendum to end the uncertainty, then we should listen to that,” she said.

She also hit out at Tory eurosceptics, who could “give the impression that England no longer wants Scotland”.