This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

John McDonnell has said Labour should allow Holyrood to stage a second independence referendum if MSPs vote for one, contradicting party policy.

The shadow chancellor told an event at the Edinburgh festival fringe that his party should not try to block a second vote on independence by withholding the legal powers to do so.

Interviewed by the broadcaster Iain Dale, McDonnell said: “We would not block something like that. We would let the Scottish people decide. That’s democracy.”

McDonnell admitted Labour was split on the issue, but implied the UK leadership agreed. “There are other views within the party, but that’s our view,” he said.

His remarks, which follow a poll on Monday showing 52% of Scottish voters now back independence, contradict Scottish Labour policy and the formal position of the UK party not to support another plebiscite on independence.

Under section 30 of the Scotland Act, Holyrood could only hold one if it is given the power to do so by the UK government.

The Conservative government has repeatedly refused to give it such authority, but the Brexit crisis and the growing prospects of an early general election has brought the question to the fore.

Jeremy Corbyn, the UK Labour leader and a close ally of McDonnell, has repeatedly wavered on the issue, but has said that if he became prime minister the party would “decide at the time” on whether to authorise a vote.

Corbyn added, however: “We don’t want another referendum, we don’t think another referendum is a good idea, and we’ll be very clear on why we don’t think it’s a good idea.”

McDonnell contradicted that stance, telling Dale: “It will be for the Scottish parliament and the Scottish people to decide that. They will take a view about whether they want another referendum. Nicola Sturgeon said by late next year or the beginning of 2021.

Nicola Sturgeon: ‘If we crash out with no deal, Corbyn will be almost as responsible as May or Johnson’ Read more

“The Scottish parliament will come to a considered view on that and they will submit that to the government and the English parliament itself.”

Ian Murray, a Scottish Labour MP and critic of independence and Corbyn, accused McDonnell of an “utterly irresponsible thoughtless rant” that betrayed the party’s values.

“The Labour party is an internationalist party founded on a vision of solidarity and we should never seek to appease nationalists, whether they be for Brexit or Scottish independence, who want to divide communities and people,” he said.



“John McDonnell has even bought into the nationalist narrative that Westminster is an ‘English parliament’, in an insult to the hard work carried out by Scottish MPs from every party.”

Corbyn’s Scottish advisers have insisted he would not do a deal with the Scottish National party by offering them a second referendum in exchange for supporting a minority Labour government at Westminster. The SNP, however, are certain to put that on the table if Labour fails to win an overall majority.

McDonnell said Labour would not do any deals with other parties, including the SNP. “I think we’d form a minority government, seek to implement our manifesto and we’d expect the other opposition parties and other MPs to vote for those policies and if they don’t we’ll go back to the country.”

Recent opinion polls have shown Labour languishing a distant third in Scotland with less than 20% of the vote, while support for the SNP is close to 40%, suggesting Labour has been badly damaged by Corbyn’s refusal to embrace a second EU referendum and remain.

According to those polling figures, it is highly unlikely Labour would win enough Scottish Westminster seats to command a Commons majority. Blocking a second referendum could cost Labour significant votes in Scotland, which may explain McDonnell’s new approach.

His critics argue that supporting a new referendum will hand tens of thousands of unionist votes to the Scottish Tories, who will make opposition to independence the defining issue of their general election campaign.

Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, responded to McDonnell’s remarks by tweeting: