Humza Yousaf invites Sir Keir Starmer for talks on working together
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Humza Yousaf has invited Sir Keir Starmer for talks so they can put aside their “political differences” and work together if the latter becomes prime minister this year.
The First Minister wrote to the UK Labour leader, inviting him to his Bute House residence in Edinburgh so “we can establish a working relationship in the interests of the people we represent”.
Among the issues he said he wanted to discuss with Sir Keir were the UK rejoining the EU’s single market and the SNP’s “democratic mandate for a referendum on independence, which should be respected”.
Mr Yousaf made the invitation as he attempted to persuade independence supporters they could vote SNP in this year’s general election and still get a Labour government at Westminster.
With polls showing the SNP is on course to lose more than 20 seats to Labour, he argued that Sir Keir’s party was so far ahead in the polls that it did not need Scotland to triumph.
But Labour has pointed out that in 2019 the party suffered its worst election defeat since 1935 and needs a swing larger than that achieved by Tony Blair to win power.
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, attacked the SNP’s “completely chaotic messaging” on voting in the upcoming election and argued that the polls would narrow.
‘Raging debate on independence’
In an effort to woo independence supporters disillusioned with the SNP, he denied that a Labour victory in Scotland in the election would kill off Scottish separation.
Mr Sarwar said there was a “raging debate around the country” on independence that would continue but argued he wanted to show nationalists that “we can make Scotland work within a devolved settlement”.
Mr Yousaf told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that accepting his invitation for talks “would be the grown-up and responsible thing” for the Labour leader to do.
The First Minister said: “It will hardly be a surprise that when I speak to Keir Starmer… I will advocate for a second independence referendum.”
Mr Yousaf complained that his party’s “mandate has been ignored over the years”, adding: “I hope [Sir Keir] will take a respectful approach to listening to Scotland’s voice.”
The SNP winning the most seats in Scotland at the general election will “send a really strong message to Westminster that Scotland will not be ignored”, he argued.
In his letter to Sir Keir, he said he also wished to discuss removing the two-child benefit cap and helping deliver Labour’s £28 billion Green Prosperity Plan. He argued: “UK membership of at least the European single market has to be back on the agenda.”
Mr Yousaf concluded: “We may have political differences, but I do not think these should prevent us being able to work together, now and after the next UK general election.”
‘Not about independence’
Mr Sarwar told BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show the election was not about independence, adding: “I’ve been really clear that I’m not going to turn my back, close my eyes, or shut my ears to any voter in the country, whether they voted yes or no.”
Asked whether his party would use a Labour win to “endorse the Union”, Mr Sarwar said: “No, because I want to persuade people that we can make Scotland work within a devolved settlement.”
Meanwhile, one of Scotland’s most eminent businessmen said the SNP had been in power “too long” and argued Scotland having six income tax bands from April compared to England’s three was “ridiculous”.
Sir Tom Hunter told Ms Kuenssberg that the SNP Government “believes they know best, but the facts are not with them”.
He said business leaders in Scotland “don’t believe this Government has their back and that is a very bad situation”.
