THE SNP has accused Labour of hypocrisy over constitutional change after former prime minister Gordon Brown said Irish reunification was inevitable while continuing to oppose another referendum on Scottish independence.
SNP depute leader Keith Brown said the former Labour leader’s comments exposed the party’s “blatant double standards” on the right of nations to determine their own futures.
Gordon Brown told the Guardian that “of course, in the long term, Ireland will be united”, adding that any move towards a united Ireland would have to be a gradual process based on agreement.
But he reiterated his opposition to Scottish independence, arguing that Scotland was geographically, economically, socially and culturally linked to the rest of the UK.
SNP's Brown said: “Gordon Brown's slap down of Andy Burnham's anti-democratic and arrogant intervention in Ireland this week obviously exposes a clear contradiction between the pair but it equally exposes the Labour Party's blatant double standards when it comes to constitutional change.
“While accepting that people across Ireland have the right to decide their own future, Gordon Brown still won’t accept that Scots should be afforded the same basic level of democracy. The Labour Party's hypocrisy knows no bounds.
“Andy Burnham claimed he was going to go on a listening tour round the UK but so far he has come to Scotland to tell us that independence is ‘off limits’ and then flew into Belfast to tell people that Irish unity is ‘off the table’. Instead of Burnham listening, people in Scotland and Ireland have witnessed more of the same Westminster lecturing.
“The people of Scotland will democratically decide our future – not Andy Burnham, not Gordon Brown, not any other Westminster politician.
“People across Scotland elected a record number of pro-independence MSPs in May, we now have First Ministers in every corner of these islands who reject Westminster and support the right of self-determination.
“Instead of lecturing people about what they can and can't democratically decide, it's time Andy Burnham and Gordon Brown woke up to the reality that the failed UK status quo is coming to an end.”
The former prime minister was asked whether Northern Ireland’s geographical connection with the Republic of Ireland meant reunification made sense.
He replied: “Yes. Well, of course, in the long term, Ireland will be united.”
Gordon Brown said it would be “a long process where people have got to come together and find a way of agreeing”.
“Basically, that is the issue: whether people can actually agree,” he added.
However, asked about continuing pressure for Scottish independence, the former prime minister said: “Scotland’s got to find a way of living in cooperation with other countries, and independence would not be the right way forward.
“We’re geographically, economically, socially, culturally linked to the rest of the United Kingdom, whether it’s Wales, England or parts of Ireland.”
His intervention follows comments by Prime Minister Andy Burnham during a visit to Northern Ireland, when he said Irish unity was “off the table”.
Burnham had previously said a second independence referendum was “off limits” during a visit to Scotland, prompting criticism from pro-independence parties.
