SCOTTISH LABOUR MP Ian Murray has ruled out his party allowing the half of Scotland’s population that supports independence to “have their say” through another referendum.
The shadow secretary of state for Scotland, who is Labour’s sole MP north of the Border, was quizzed on the party’s position with polls showing around half “wanting a referendum, wanting independence, the other half not”.
During an interview on Sky News he was asked: “Will Scottish Labour give half of the population the chance to have their say?”
In response he said: “I think it is broadly 50-50 in terms of independence, I think the latest polls show that people don’t really want another referendum for all the things we have already talked about in terms of the cost of living, mortgages, of looking at public services, some of the big issues in Scotland.
“So that is not the case that people want it, but no we won’t give another referendum.”
He went on: “We want to concentrate on making sure we return the UK to a green superpower, we want to make sure the UK can have the highest sustained growth in the G7, we are setting out those five exciting missions for the next UK Labour government and that will be our focus.”
Murray was also quizzed on why the Labour Party were not offering more support to those struggling with the cost of living and outlining help “in concrete terms”.
He replied: “What we have said is we would have to get the regulators, the Bank of England and the mortgage providers together to try to find a solution here for people who are ending up on mortgage rates that are unaffordable – we have to try and find a way through that.
“Gilt yields are up to their highest level today, higher than they were potentially when the kamikaze budget came forward last year through Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng.
“So we are in a position where the economy is in a pretty precarious state because of decisions made by this government.
“We wouldn’t have been here now, you’re right to say we are here and what would we be doing about it and we have to make sure the Bank of England and the regulators and the mortgage providers are coming together to try and do something about that and Labour will be leading that challenge."
