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A Labour leadership contender has stepped up her attack on Better Together by saying her party should “never” again team up with the Tories.

Rebecca Long-Bailey said the referendum alliance was a “mistake” and implied Labour should campaign alone if indyref2 takes place.

A No vote was secured in 2014 after Labour, the Lib Dems and the Tories worked together as part of the same campaign.

However, Better Together was judged to have damaged Scottish Labour, who fell from 41 seats to 1 at the next general election.

A protracted debate has raged ever since inside the party over whether the Labour made the correct move.

Long-Bailey, the candidate closest politically to Jeremy Corbyn, has been in Glasgow speaking to party members.

Asked about Better Together, she repeated her point about backing workers in “every dispute” against “unfair and exploitative employers”.

The left-winger added: “And that also means never again making the mistake of the 2014 ‘Better Together’ campaign when we stood alongside a reactionary Conservative government.

“It was a mistake to campaign alongside the Conservatives, particularly when they were in the middle of making huge attacks on our communities through austerity.”

She also said: “We should - as we will do in future – make a positive, Labour case for Scotland remaining as part of a transformed Britain based on our socialist Labour values.”

On indyref2, she echoed the Corbyn position of not standing in the way of another referendum if Scots voters want one.

“If a mandate emerges from the Scottish Parliament for a second referendum on independence then Labour should not be arguing for this to be blocked at Westminster. That would be undemocratic and run contrary to the principle of devolving power.

“But what a mandate looks like has to be a matter for the Scottish people, the Scottish Parliament and Scottish political parties.”

She also said she would “confidently campaign” for Scotland to remain in the UK in the event of a second referendum.