Scottish Labour’s former general secretary has said his party must distance itself from Keir Starmer to be successful.
Michael Sharpe said UK Labour still “doesn’t get” devolution and urged colleagues to back an extra powers option in any indyref2 vote.
He also accused Anas Sarwar of airbrushing Scottish Labour’s policy on decriminalising drug use from their Holyrood manifesto.
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “We’re in the third wave of this virus, at this crucial moment in our pandemic response the Scottish Government has most control - so Scottish Labour’s relentless focus continues to be coming through COVID and our national recovery.”
Sarwar, who took over as Scottish Labour leader in February, was credited with running a positive Holyrood election campaign, but his party still came third.
His key message was that Covid recovery should be the priority for MSPs, not a second independence referendum.
In an article for the Daily Record (read the full piece above) Sharpe, a left winger who was general secretary until December, said Sarwar can undoubtedly “deliver a line” as leader and enjoys being on the campaign trail.
But he wrote: “With the constitution still the prism through which Scottish politics is viewed, Scottish Labour’s dismissive stance on self-determination cut the party off at the knees from voters long-since switched to the SNP.”
He said Labour should support a multi-option referendum.
“That means fully embracing support for a third option on any IndyRef2 ballot – one that would give Scotland far more control over its own affairs economically, socially and internationally whilst retaining UK redistribution and cooperation in vital areas.”
On UK Labour, which trails the Tories in the polls, he wrote: “Change must start by standing up to the UK Party and unquestionably affirming that sovereignty lies with the Scottish people.”
He continued: “As a kid growing up within the Labour family to becoming an adult that has worked with numerous Labour leaders, I know that the UK party still doesn’t get devolution.
“But Scottish Labour can no longer contort itself to make up for that shortcoming.
“As recent polling suggests, Anas Sarwar must distance Scottish Labour from the Keir Starmer leadership – a leadership which has been increasingly directed by the likes of Peter Mandelson - and let Scottish Labour’s voice be heard.”
On Scotland’s tragic drugs death figures, Sharpe criticised Starmer’s claim that current drugs policy is “roughly right”.
He wrote: “Scottish Labour members won a ‘decriminalisation’ approach as official policy – in part down to the Daily Record’s own campaigning on the issue.
“Yet Sarwar toed the Starmer line and the policy was then airbrushed from the recent manifesto.”
A Labour source said: "If they can't get behind Anas and Keir then a long period of silent reflection would be best for those involved in the failed Corbyn experiment which brought our party to its knees."
An SNP spokesperson said: “This backing for an independence referendum from a former Scottish Labour General Secretary is a significant intervention.
“But no amount of devo max would protect Scotland from Brexit, or the Tory power grab on Holyrood – only independence can do that.
“And there is no mandate for a more powers option on the ballot paper – Labour have just 22 seats out of 129, while the Lib Dems have only four. There is a rock solid pro-independence, pro-referendum majority, and the SNP won the election with a higher share of the constituency vote than any party in the history of devolution.”
