Our Politics newsletter is now daily. Join thousands of others and get the latest Scottish politics news sent straight to your inbox. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

SCOTLAND'S most powerful union leaders have warned Labour their members may vote for independence.

Unite’s Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty warned workers will not be bounced into voting No just because the party leadership is opposed.

He fired a shot across the bows of Scots Labour leader Johann Lamont by urging her to provide “positive reasons” why people should vote to stay in Britain.

Speaking at the Labour party conference in Inverness, Rafferty said the decision should be based on how independence would affect issues like public services, the tax system and welfare benefits.

Labour are campaigning for a No vote in the referendum but many of their traditional allies in the trade union movement are undecided.

The Yes campaign will need to convince many Labour supporters if they are to win the referendum on September 18, 2014.

“We are being told by our members, many of whom are undecided, that they won’t be bounced into taking sides in this referendum,” said Rafferty.

“We’ll continue to provide as much help as possible for our members to make an informed decision.

“We want to know who will support our fight for our welfare system and the principle of universalism.”

The pro-independence Yes Scotland campaign has seized on the Con-Dem welfare cuts as one of the strongest arguments for going it alone.

They say wicked policies dreamed up by the Tories, such as the bedroom tax, would not happen in an independent Scotland.

Unison’s Dave Watson warned many trade unionists are concerned the pro-UK Better Together campaign includes the very Tories who are implementing the cuts.

He said: “Most of us in the labour movement have a huge difficulty with any campaign that includes the Tories.”

He also called for a positive Labour vision of remaining in the UK, adding: “Rubbishing the SNP is not enough.”

Richard Leonard, of the GMB, said the independence debate should be about shifting power to the people, not from one parliament to another.

He added: “We need a distinctive Labour campaign. Let’s get out of the slipstream of the nationalists and the unionists and be ourselves.

“It’s no good saying what we are against – we need to tell people what we are for.”

A group for trade unionists who support independence were formed last week to coincide with the STUC’s annual congress in Perth.

Trade Unionists for Yes welcomed the comments of union leaders and said the independence debate was too important to be left to politicial parties.

Their spokeswoman said: “Thousands of trade union members and Labour voters believe Westminster isn’t working for Scotland and are voting yes. We call on politicians to engage in a positive debate on the referendum.”

But ex-Labour chancellor Alistair Darling, who is leading the No campaign, told the conference the trade union movement was a good example of why Scotland was better off in the UK.

“This is about values,” he said. “We believe we are better, we are stronger, when we stand together. That’s why we joined the Labour Party. That’s why we joined trade unions.”

He highlighted Labour achievements in the Union: “The NHS – there when you need it no matter where you are in the UK. Or the minimum wage – avoiding a race to the bottom where workers in Dundee are pitted against workers in Durham.

“In relation to corporation tax, the Scottish Government might cut corporation tax then the rest of the UK does it and it gets lower and lower.

“The losers in that are the people in this country who would have to pay the taxes to make up the difference.

“We are proud to be Scottish and British. We don’t have to choose. We do not want to choose.”

Meanwhile, deputy Scots Labour leader Anas Sarwar vowed to “reveal the facts” about independence.

He launched a new “truth team” to hold the Nationalists to account as the first part of Labour’s campaign.

He said it would be followed by a “specific Labour case” for the Union.

He added: “When we launch the campaign, we will do so with a compelling Labour case that has at its heart a vision of a strong and confident Scotland, playing its full part in the United Kingdom.”