Labour urged to recognise Scotland’s right to choose own future
New Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra has been urged to break with the failed approach of his predecessors by recognising Scotland’s right to choose its own future, say the Scottish Greens.
Scottish Green co-leader Gillian Mackay MSP, who voted No in the 2014 independence referendum, will lead today’s Scottish Parliament debate on self-determination for the Scottish Greens.
Gillian has urged all MSPs to support the principle that Scotland’s constitutional future must be decided by the people who live here.
Scottish Greens co-leader, Gillian Mackay MSP said:
“Michael Marra has promised a new beginning for Scottish Labour.
“This is his first opportunity to prove that he is prepared to go further than his predecessors, and show that Scottish Labour can stand up for Scotland’s democratic right to choose.
“If the election of a pro-independence majority of MSPs is not enough to allow Scotland to choose our own future then what more would it take for Labour to recognise democracy? It’s the simplest question of all, and one that Michael Marra has been unable to answer.
“I say that as somebody who voted No in 2014. Since then, Scotland has been dragged out of the European Union against our will and successive Westminster governments have become increasingly extreme, chaotic and out-of-touch, whilst Labour has completely lost its way.
“Scottish Labour will remain doomed to failure for as long as it takes orders from its parent party at Westminster that has repeatedly shown how little it understands Scotland, what people here want, or even why so many have lost faith in the Union.
“Andy Burnham even exploited that lack of faith in the Union to push ‘devolution' as his route to Downing Street, but in the same breath, brazenly denied Scotland the same democratic respect.
“Time and again, Scotland has been treated like a mug, talked up at elections, only to be ignored when the count is over and used as a convenient punching bag and scapegoat for the failures of Tory, Labour and now extreme Reform UK politics.
“Labour is perfectly happy to tell people in Scotland that their votes matter when it wants them to elect Labour councillors, MSPs or MPs, breaking the bank to pay for adverts and leaflets urging Scotland to choose Labour, but when it comes to Scotland’s future, Labour retreats into silence, obstruction and total disarray, every single time.
“We are not asking Michael Marra or his MSPs to support independence, we are simply asking them to support basic principles of democracy, and back Scotland’s right to decide.”