wendy is ridiculed overreferendum climbdown
Alexander: I was only calling the SNP’s bluff
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Labour leader Wendy Alexander yesterday endured a fresh torrent of ridicule from rival parties as she tried to justify her call for an early referendum on Scottish independence.
Ms Alexander, who staged a climbdown on Saturday a week after floating the idea, was described by an aide to First Minister Alex Salmond as the “comical Alexander of Scottish politics”.
Tory leader Annabel Goldie said: “The now incomprehensible antics and policy acrobatics of Labour show a party in a shambolic state of division and turmoil.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Nicol Stephen said a TV interview with Ms Alexander was “not a credible explanation” of events, adding: “Labour’s position has shifted from farce to fantasy.”
And Scotland Office Minister David Cairns admitted: “This hasn’t been a good week for us. My thoughts this morning are with the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Labour voters who are looking at their newspapers and wondering what on earth is going on.”
Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday pledged to do “whatever is necessary” to preserve the UK.
He wants the pro-Union parties, business and trade unions to join forces to fight the breakup of the UK.
Ms Alexander denied trying to bounce the premier into backing her call for an early referendum.
She admitted it had been a “controversial” move but said she had no plans to quit, and denied misrepresenting Mr Brown’s views.
She claimed last Tuesday to have Mr Brown’s support for an early referendum, but he told a Sunday newspaper he was “not persuaded” of the case for one.
Her brother Douglas, a member of Mr Brown’s cabinet, also said yesterday he was “not convinced” of the case for a referendum.
Ms Alexander announced in a TV interview last Sunday that she favoured an early referendum, challenging Mr Salmond to “bring it on”.
But on Saturday Ms Alexander staged her climb-down, saying Labour lacked the numbers at Holyrood to force the SNP’s hand.
Yesterday she said her move had been a success, having called the SNP’s bluff and shown them to be scared of an early referendum.
But the SNP said she had conceded the principle of a referendum and would have no excuse for not backing their referendum in 2010.
Annabel Goldie said: “She has given game, set and match to the Nationalists. It will be their plan, their timing, and their question.”
But Ms Alexander declared: “We called the SNP’s bluff and they blinked.”
Interviewed yesterday, she insisted: “I don’t think it’s gambling with the constitutional future of Scotland to say we trust the people.”
Asked why she claimed Mr Brown endorsed her call for a referendum, Ms Alexander said: “The prime minister has endorsed my right as leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament to do whatever we think it takes to expose the hollowness of the SNP.
“We took the initiative, we put the SNP behind the eight-ball, and the SNP’s bluff was called. They are as yellow as the colour that supports their party.”
Ms Alexander, whose title is not leader of the Scottish Labour party but leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament, insisted: “The decision as to whether a referendum has support in the Scottish Parliament is a matter for the Labour group in the Scottish Parliament.
“Part of devolution is to say we will harry the SNP to bring forward a bill to let Scotland choose – and the SNP are not letting us do so.”
Asked if she would back an eventual SNP referendum bill in 2010, she said there was no “blank cheque”.
“We will not vote down the opportunity for Scotland to speak, but we will want to harry them on things like what the question is and what the process is.”
Pressed on the issue, she said: “You can’t expect me to pronounce on a bill that hasn’t been published.”
Ms Alexander agreed her move was controversial, but said Labour MSPs had given “overwhelming” support and she has no plans to resign.
She denied her rift with Mr Brown was irreparable, or that she had weakened the prime minister.
Comment, Page 13
Readers' Comments
So this is New Labour. Hold onto your position at all cost, even if it means cutting your sister a drift and ending her political career. Some might say she brought it on her self, or did she. We all know Wendy wouldn’t fart with out the say so of Gordon Brown, and we all must remember that her wee brother is one of his key advisers. So it looks more and likely that after Wendy’s and Gordon’s late night chat, about what to do about independence. That Gordon has come off the phone and had second thoughts. Realising that after last week results, and his position in the polls, the last thing he need’s is to hand the SNP the golden bullet. It’s a pity he didn’t confer this with Wendy. Who thinking she had been given the go ahead waded in. It now looks that not only has she given the SNP the golden bullet, but lined her self up for the golden rivet.
grame tran
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No matter what politicians say on all sides. One thing is for sure, if you give the people of Scotland the opportunity to vote for independence from England, then they will take it. Anything to kick them where it hurts, we will do it. This is the over riding fear of the Unionist parties .They know that given the choice, Scotland will vote yes, and dame the consequences .We can work that out later. If you were to put forward a vote to bring back hanging most people in the whole of the UK would vote yes.Thats why we don’t get to vote on it. Like wise, that’s why this Government won’t let us vote on Europe. Most Scots realise that the world is a far smaller place now, and to be heard you have to shout, but as long as we remain the way we are, we will be but one small voice in many. An independent country, like so many of the former eastern block countries enjoy their voices being heard loud and clear.Thats why so many other countries will now stop and listen to them and take stock to what they have to say. This is helped by them either having strategic importance or oil, both by the way Scotland has. I think it is the older generation we have to convince. You now the post war group that were fed better in the Union than out, and by the way here’s the Poll Tax, Nuclear waste and weapons to look after, because we don’t want anything happening down here. I hope like so many of those who have not been asked by the pollsters, we vote for what is right at this time, and our voices are heard over our loud neighbours.
grame tran
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I’m sorry, but the only people that have blinked are her own party and the people that voted for her, as well as spitting their tea out on hearing of her great plan. In the world of Wendy, she has turned this political forepaw into a knockout blow to the SNP. Well sorry Wendy and Mr Brown the clock is ticking and I think your positions in the Labour Party are now under serious review. It looks as though you will be watching the results of an independence referendum in 2010 from the back benches.
grame tran
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