Labour is facing renewed pressure to explain how Scotland could democratically choose independence after senior figures questioned the party’s refusal to set out a route to another referendum.
SNP MSP David Linden says Labour is “slowly waking up” to what he described as the absurdity of its position, arguing that refusing to establish a democratic mechanism for constitutional change cannot be sustained.
The intervention comes amid continuing debate within Labour over how the party should respond if voters in Scotland again deliver an electoral mandate for an independence referendum.
The SNP claims several senior Labour figures have begun breaking ranks over the issue, while the debate has also become a feature of the contest for the Labour leadership in Scotland.
At the heart of the argument is a question which has remained unresolved since the UK Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that the Scottish Parliament could not legislate unilaterally for an independence referendum.
The SNP is now seeking to turn the pressure onto Labour by asking what democratic route the party believes should exist if Scotland seeks another vote on its constitutional future.
David Linden said:
“The Labour Party in Scotland is slowly waking up to their absurd position on independence.
“Their denial of Scottish democracy is crumbling.
“Senior Labour Party politicians are breaking ranks or tripping over themselves trying to explain their thought process on such a basic question, what is the mechanism for the Scottish people’s voice to be heard?
“There are First Ministers across these islands that support constitutional change and simply pretending Scotland cannot even discuss the route to an independent future is untenable.
“Andy Burnham was right to recognise Westminster as broken, he now needs to recognise the ridiculousness of the fact that the party he now leads refuses to set out how Scotland can democratically leave the United Kingdom.
“It is a position that is undemocratic, unsustainable and it won’t last.
“The people of Scotland will democratically decide our own future and unless the leadership of the Labour Party respects that basic democratic principle, the deeper their difficulties will become.”
The SNP’s attack follows renewed scrutiny of Labour’s constitutional position as figures within the party debate whether simply refusing another referendum is sufficient as a long term answer to the independence question.
It also leaves Labour confronting the same difficult question which has followed successive UK governments since the 2014 referendum, namely what circumstances, if any, would be sufficient for Scotland to hold another vote.
For the SNP, that unanswered question provides an obvious political opening as it seeks to shift the independence debate away from when another referendum should happen and towards whether Scotland has any recognised democratic mechanism for securing one at all.
