Politics

Sturgeon: I would have no great objection if Corbyn were replaced


Nicola Sturgeon has said the Scottish National party would have “no great objection” if Jeremy Corbyn were replaced as Labour leader, and hinted strongly she would support that if it helped form an anti-Conservative coalition at Westminster.

The SNP leader said she “didn’t get to choose who leads the Labour party” but said several times at the launch of her party’s election manifesto she was no fan of Corbyn.

Asked if the SNP would support moves to replace him as party leader if there were moves to do so at Westminster, to build a coalition with Labour, she said: “I don’t choose the leader of the Labour party. I have said if I did choose the leader of Labour party I wouldn’t choose Jeremy Corbyn, so that probably gives you the answer to that question.

“If Labour wanted to change its leader, I wouldn’t have any great objection to that [but] I’m not in charge of that decision.”

The Labour peer and adviser Bob Kerslake said at the weekend Corbyn’s resignation and a deal on staging a second independence referendum could be the price exacted by the Liberal Democrats and SNP for forming a post-election coalition.

Opinion polls suggest Labour is well short of winning enough seats to form a majority government, increasing speculation that Corbyn will have to strike deals with other opposition parties to block Boris Johnson from forming the next government.

Even so, Corbyn has repeatedly ruled out any pacts or deals, repeatedly rejecting Sturgeon’s demands that he empower Holyrood to stage a fresh independence vote in late 2020. Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader, has repeatedly stated her party would never do deals with a Corbyn-led government.

Kerslake, a former head of the UK civil service, told Sky News: “Labour … will seek to govern as a minority Labour government. But to be able to do that, you would need support from other parties.

“We don’t yet know in truth how that would play out, although the Liberal Democrats have said they could not support a Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour government and the SNP have said they would want a second referendum. All of that would form part of the conversation that Labour would be having informally with those two parties.”

Labour has rejected his assertions, insisting neither a second independence vote nor Corbyn’s leadership, would be on the table.

Sturgeon was asked by Channel 4 News about the attacks on Corbyn’s suitability as prime minister by Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi, and whether that gave her pause for thought about propping up a minority Labour government.

She said: “I deplore Jeremy Corbyn’s lack of leadership on the issue of antisemitism and I don’t condone in any way, shape or form that failure on the part of him and of the Labour party to eradicate that from their ranks.”

But she said the SNP would exercise its duties at Westminster responsibly, pressing for its policy goals to be adopted by the next UK government. “We will not be signing any blank cheque to Jeremy Corbyn or to any leader of the Labour party.”

The Tories, placed at 28% in a Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times last weekend, deny Holyrood’s budget will be cut and dispute Sturgeon’s claim they plan wholesale privatisation of the NHS in England.

The Scottish Tory manifesto says Johnson’s NHS funding plans for England will increase Scotland’s funding from the Treasury by £3.3bn by 2023. It says Scotland will get a further £1.4bn thanks to a £14bn increase in school funding in England, plus a share in Johnson’s “shared prosperity fund”, designed to replace EU structural funds post-Brexit.



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