THE people of Scotland have the right to decide their own future, the new leader of Scottish Labour has said.
Michael Marra, who was elected as the leader of Scottish Labour on Saturday replacing Anas Sarwar who quit as an MSP to join the House of Lords, said Scotland has the right to decide its future when quizzed on the matter with STV News on Monday.
The Labour MSP’s comments come ahead of a debate in Holyrood on Tuesday where MSPs will vote on Scotland’s right to choose its constitutional future.
Supporters of the motion have said it is not about backing independence but “the fundamental principle that Scotland should have the right to decide our own future”.
The Scottish Government’s motion is expected to be backed with the help of the Scottish Greens.
Ahead of the crunch vote, Marra said it is now up to the SNP to put in “the hard yards” to convince people that a second referendum on independence is the best for Scotland’s future.
“I believe that the people of Scotland have the right to decide their future, and they did so in 2014,” he told STV News.
“In 1997, they gave an unequivocal answer on both of those occasions. And the challenge, I know in the Parliament this week that the SNP are going to have to be held to, is how they build that settled will of the Scottish people that we actually produced in the 1980s and 1990s when I was but a boy.
“The Labour Party went about the job about delivering that settled will when answering the questions that people had.
“Now that’s the hard yards that the SNP has to do.”
Last Monday, the three devolved leaders signed an agreement to put pressure on Westminster for constitutional change in their respective countries.
SNP leader John Swinney, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth and Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill all signed the memorandum of understanding during a meeting in Cardiff.
Along with Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald, who is the leader of the opposition in the Irish Dáil, the leaders called on the UK Government to “prepare for, plan and facilitate constitutional change”.
The agreement sets out plans to “reject Whitehall’s broken economic model” and share ideas on economic growth, expand energy resources, and states that “the future of our nations belongs in the European Union”.
Scotland’s First Minister, Swinney, said there should be “no obstacle” to those in the three devolved nations being “able to determine their own future”.
The SNP leader claimed that Andy Burnham would be the “last prime minister of the United Kingdom” as he brought up Burnham's comments in the House of Commons earlier this month multiple times during the press conference.
Burnham suggested the terms that apply to Northern Ireland for triggering an Irish reunification referendum should be “exactly the same” for Scotland.
The Good Friday Agreement states that the UK Northern Ireland Secretary “shall” call a referendum on Irish reunification if it looks likely that the people would vote in support.
Swinney said recent polling showed a majority in favour of breaking away from the union while the recent Holyrood election returned a majority of pro-independence MSPs.
But he said the country had faced “obstruction” from the UK Government, which has repeatedly rejected SNP calls for another referendum.
“The people of Scotland are entitled to decide their own future,” he said during a press conference.
Swinney said a Scottish independence referendum must be held within the next five years, with a vote taking place in the current parliamentary term.
