Scottish Tories Who Back Independence Will Be Asked To Leave The Party

Welsh Labour has escaped the fate of the Scottish party and finding out why that’s been the case is the reason she’s made meeting Carwyn Jones an early priority.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson responded to Dugdale by saying it “beggars belief” that she would offer support to her parliamentarians should they opt to back independence. “I am sure you will agree that this is a prize worth aiming for”.

In this year’s election, the SNP merged nationalist ideals with an anti-austerity stance, a winning formula in a nation of 5 million where the political centre of gravity is much further to the left than in England, its much bigger southern neighbour.

“I am going to send a message out to the whole of the United Kingdom party which is, here in Scotland we are changing, we are learning the lessons of the past and we are focusing on the future”, Ms Dugdale said.

Kezia Dugdale, who was visiting Cardiff, replaced Jim Murphy in August after Labour lost all but one of its 40 Scottish seats at the general election.

Apartments and art venues now stand where dockyards and wharves once were in a city that now has a population of around 600,000, though towering cranes remain as a reminder of Glasgow’s industrial heritage and the Labour party is ingrained in its history.

Both Ms Dugdale and Mr Rennie have this week said their party members, including their MSPs, would be allowed to campaign for independence and they would have a “free vote” on the issue.

Sitting down for a break nearby, Mary Lyle, a 56-year-old retired nurse and former Labour voter, said she was waiting to see how Corbyn’s leadership pans out.

“So one politician’s popularity in contrast with one Government’s record creates a space for the Labour Party to say: “what about your kids” chances in school, what about your mam and dad’s health and the social care they need when they get older, what about the police?'”

“I think that’s absolutely do-able, with a strong focus on values”.

NICOLA STURGEON has challenged unionist parties to pave the way for a second independence referendum.

“While Labour worked hand in glove with the Tories during the referendum and failed to vote against the harshest of Tory cuts, the SNP is standing up for Scotland and leading the opposition to the Tory government at Westminster”.

Sturgeon told a Scottish Parliamentary Journalist Association function: “If what they said is to be credible then they have to take it to the logical conclusion”.

A big win for the SNP next May could make a new independence referendum more likely in the not-too-distant future.

The Labour MSP said it was “self-evident” that some people within the Labour movement had accepted that Scotland could be independent.

“Nicola Sturgeon might also want to reflect on why her MPs did not even bother voting on their own amendment to devolve employment legislation when the issue was considered before the summer recess”.