A SCOTTISH Labour MP has said his party should back indyref2 if the SNP agrees to a 25-year ban on a third referendum in the event of a No vote.
Brian Leishman, the MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, told the Daily Record that the deal should be part of an agreed process for a second independence referendum to take place in Scotland.
In the first vote of the Scottish Parliament following the 2026 Holyrood election, MSPs called on the UK Government to grant a Section 30 order to allow indyref2 to go ahead.
However, this was almost immediately refused by Westminster and Keir Starmer’s administration. New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has also said another vote is “off limits” since taking office.
Scottish Labour leadership candidates Michael Marra and Joe Fagan have also refused to say what could trigger another referendum.
Leishman told the Record: “If we ever want a Scottish Labour government in Holyrood again, then we must appeal to what was once a large chunk of our core vote that left us for the SNP.
“Do we not see that competing just for a small Unionist vote is swimming in crowded waters and will never lead to us being in government?
“I am not saying that we should back independence. What I am saying is that we should lay out the democratic route to having another referendum.
“And if we do that then we will be back speaking to a huge number of Scots that left us. They might even listen to us again.”
Leishman argued that negotiations should include a requirement that a third vote, if Scotland decides to remain in the UK, would not take place for decades.
“Winning five elections in a row is a pretty obvious statement and a second referendum should come with the defined terms,” he said.
“If it’s another No result, then there should be an agreed timescale before there could be another one – for example, 25 years.
“And if Labour said yes to another referendum, then I think the SNP leadership would panic.
“Their whole strategy for governing in Scotland is modelled on the fact that there wouldn’t be a second referendum and the onus being shifted onto them to provide an argument for an independent Scotland would panic them.
“Scottish Labour should not have anything to fear about another independence referendum.”
Leishman added on Twitter/X: “Scottish Labour must have a coherent answer to the question of what is the democratic route to another indyref.
“If we don’t, then we will forever be in opposition and never be able to improve life for Scots.
“That’s the hard reality my party needs to face up to.”
Last week, a poll of more than 2000 Scottish voters found that Scotland would vote to become independent if a fresh referendum were held tomorrow – and the vast majority of the country thinks more powers should be devolved to Holyrood.
The survey by Survation for the Diffley Partnership found that 47% of people said they would vote Yes in a new referendum, while 43% said they would vote No. With the 9% of Don’t Knows removed, the split was 52/48 in favour of independence.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that Holyrood does not have the powers to hold a vote on Scotland’s constitutional future, as it is reserved to Westminster.
The UK Government would have to temporarily devolve the powers for a vote to go ahead, as it did ahead of the 2014 referendum.
