Anas Sarwar, the new Scottish Labour leader, is facing an escalating rebellion by senior figures and activists on the party’s left after an election candidate was sacked for backing Scottish independence.
An open letter attacking the sacking of Hollie Cameron as a candidate for Glasgow Kelvin has been signed by the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and several hundred Labour officials, peers, councillors and activists.
Cameron told the National, a pro-independence newspaper with close links to the Scottish National party, that she was a yes voter in 2014 but was now sceptical. She claimed Labour would support a fresh independence referendum. The only “quibble” was over its timing, she said.
That directly contradicts Labour’s stance, and she was removed as the party’s candidate in May’s Holyrood election on Tuesday after a Scottish executive committee (SEC) selection panel said she had failed to reassure them she would back party policy at Holyrood.
A senior Labour source said Cameron had asked the party for permission to do the interview in advance, but had not been given it. The SEC panel that sacked her as a candidate includes two senior figures on Labour’s left, the source said. They dismissed her over concerns about whether she would obey the party whip.
Sarwar argues that discussing independence in any form during the Covid pandemic distracts the government and Scottish parliament from tackling the much more pressing problems of dealing the economic and social impact of Covid and Brexit.
In a furious attack which has exposed deep divisions over Labour’s referendum policy, the open letter released by the Kelvin constituency party accuses Scottish Labour’s leadership of censoring dissenting voices.
One signatory, an ally of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, said Cameron’s abrupt dismissal had strong echoes of the UK party’s decision under Keir Starmer’s leadership to suspend Corbyn after he criticised findings of antisemitism in the party late last year.
Left activists believe it is designed to establish Sarwar’s authority over the party, but the source said it would backfire by alienating potential Labour voters who back independence.
It is not thought the letter’s signatories, which include a Labour council leader, Joe Cullinane, and Neil Findlay, a pro-Corbyn Labour MSP retiring at the May election, endorse Cameron’s views on independence. Many are known to reject it and to prefer federalism for the UK.
The letter said, however, Labour had to be seen by voters as a “broad church” and called for Cameron to be reinstated.
A significant majority of its signatories supported Monica Lennon during the recent Scottish leadership campaign and agreed with her call for Labour to back a second referendum if the Scottish National party wins a majority at May’s election. She won 42% of the vote, to 58% for Sarwar.
“They’ve scored an own goal, because it’s all kicked off,” the source said. Sarwar “might think he’s showing his mettle but ultimately the people who are going to help Labour recover in Scotland are people who have voted SNP and for independence in 2014”.
The open letter implied the local party agreed with Cameron’s views on the case for holding a fresh referendum. It said local officials and activists knew she was a yes voter and supported independence when they selected her as a candidate.
“Hollie took part in an interview with a journalist at the National outlining her perspective on the constitution and the democratic rights of people in Scotland,” it stated.
“Running in a constituency where over 60% voted for pro-independence parties at the last Holyrood elections, the aim of this interview was to get Labour’s message to a significant constituency who have stopped listening to the party.”