A leading strategist behind the successful campaign against Scottish independence has admitted that many people’s confidence in the UK has been “shaken”.
Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary and Labour’s general election co-ordinator, said the party could win back that trust through the idea of “solidarity”.
In his keynote speech to the Labour conference in Manchester, the MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South thanked party activists from across the country for joining the campaign.
He said: “When, as Scots, we sent out the call to our friends and comrades in the Labour Party you answered that call.”
Mr Alexander added: “Conference, I know that many people’s confidence in the United Kingdom in recent years has been shaken – both at home and abroad.
“As the problems we face become more complex and challenging, people’s confidence in the power of politics is declining.
“But what I saw in Scotland this summer in town halls and village halls, in school halls and church halls, from the Highlands and the Hebrides, to the borders and to our great cities, taught me that we can win back that confidence.
“We can uphold the idea of solidarity. We can work together across borders.
“We can defeat isolationist ideas and yes, we can defeat narrow nationalism.”