Jim Murphy said the last Labour Government should have set the rules to allow his side to campaign Yes for Scotland to remain in the UK.
A former Scottish Labour leader has said his party should have called an independence referendum seven years before the historic vote in 2014. Jim Murphy said a Gordon Brown-led Government would have campaigned for Yes to Scotland remaining in the UK.
He said of his tour: “I loved doing that. The reason why I did it was I have watched nationalisms all over the world and every nationalism says it is different - that’s why it is nationalism - but I cannot think of a nationalism anywhere in the world which doesn’t rely on having street politics. I thought our side of the debate had no street politics and I wanted to do politics on the street.”
Murphy, now 57, rues the fact that the referendum was agreed between the Tory/Lib Dem coalition of the day and Salmond’s Government, with Labour out in the cold. It meant Labour had little choice but being part of a No campaign with their Tory adversaries. “You’d have had a Labour Prime Minister in the conversation about the rules. You’d have had a Labour Prime Minister who would be the figurehead of one of the two Governments. And you’d be campaigning as optimists.
Scottish politics He said Labour was ill-suited to the indyref: “People join the Labour party for lots of reasons, but it is rarely for constitutional reasons. And you join the SNP for lots of reasons, and it is often for constitutional reasons. It was the type of campaign, the type of issue, that Labour wasn’t born into. It felt uncomfortable.”
SNP Scottish Labour Alex Salmond Barack Obama David Cameron Conservative Party Labour Party Scottish National Party Irn-Bru General Election
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
U.S. births continue to fall, dropping by 17% since 2007Final government data finds the number of U.S. births falling by 2% last year compared to 2022, continuing a decades-long decline.
Read more »
Migration to Ireland at highest level since 2007Most growth, 79,300 people, was net migration, with the rest due to 19,400 more births than deaths.
Read more »
Price revealed for Casey Stoner's 2007 Ducati sold at auction2003 and 2007 MotoGP Ducatis sold for huge fees at Silverstone auction
Read more »
Wembley Stadium has incredible hidden feature that has never been used since re-opening in 2007The feature has never been used since Wembley opened in 2007.
Read more »
Wembley Stadium has incredible hidden feature that has never been used since re-opening in 2007...90,000 seat Wembley Stadium was designed by the World Stadium Team, a joint venture between Populous and Foster & Partners, as a multi-purpose venue to host soccer, rugby, concerts and athletics
Read more »
2007 to 2023 saw decline in menopausal hormone therapy usage ratesMenopausal hormone therapy (HT) usage rates declined from 2007 to 2023 and remain low, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of The Menopause Society, held from Sept. 10 to 14 in Chicago.
Read more »