Labour's civil war over Scottish independence intensified yesterday as Tom Watson said he opposed a second referendum.
The UK deputy leader set himself against shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who last week sparked fury among Scottish Labour activists by saying the party “would not block” IndyRef2 if the Scottish Parliament backed one.
The pledge contradicted the position set out by Scottish Labour Richard Leonard and included in the party’s 2017 election manifesto.
In a video message to Labour members last night, Watson said: “I want to endorse the statement from our independently elected leader of the Labour Party in Scotland.
“As we said in our 2017 manifesto: Labour opposes another referendum and the turbo-charged austerity in Scotland that leaving the UK would cause, with the inevitable threat to thousands of jobs and livelihoods.
"That is not because our society doesn’t need to change. It does, and badly. Almost a decade of austerity has left our public services on their knees and Brexit has damaged our economy and divided our communities.
“The future is uncertain but another independence referendum isn’t the answer.”
Gordon Brown, meanwhile, claimed McDonnell had fallen into a “nationalist trap” and warned that the UK is “sleepwalking into oblivion”.
He claimed the referendum was just one example of how England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are drifting further apart.
Brown said: “It is Labour’s role to stand up for Britain but sadly… Labour’s John McDonnell fell into the nationalist trap by suggesting that a Scottish parliament should not be frustrated by what he termed the ‘English Parliament’.
“We have to emphasise the desire for autonomy with the need for co-operation across the UK. That means emphasising the importance of solidarity across borders and reciprocity between nations.”
Brown warned that a no-deal Brexit would lead to “oblivion” for the UK’s “precarious” union.
He said Boris Johnson’s commitment to deliver Brexit “do or die” by October 31 was driven by a “destructive, populist, nationalist ideology”.
Former Fife MP added: Brown added: “If we are to understand why we are facing not only our most serious constitutional crisis since the 17th century but, at the same time, an unprecedented economic calamity precipitated
by a no-deal exit from the European Union, we must recognise that nationalism is now driving British politics.”
