Independence referendum is Scotland’s choice, says Jeremy Corbyn

The Your Party co-leader made a speech in Dundee on Sunday.

If the people of Scotland want to hold an independence referendum, “that is their choice”, Jeremy Corbyn has said.

During a speech at the Your Party Scotland conference in Dundee, the co-leader said that a referendum “should not be determined by the UK Government”.

Mr Corbyn, who currently sits in Westminster as an independent MP, said: “As far as I’m concerned, I’ve always had the position that if the people in Scotland and the Scottish organisations want a referendum to decide the future of Scotland, that is their choice.

“It should not be determined by the UK Government in Westminster, and I think we have to make that very, very clear indeed.”

Mr Corbyn spoke at the founding conference of Your Party Scotland, where members also met to decide the approach to May’s Scottish Parliament elections.

Should the party decide to stand, it said the process for selecting candidates, and developing policy, will begin as early as next week.

Organising group member Ellie Gomersall said: “The political establishment has let people across Scotland down time after time. It couldn’t be clearer that a new movement – built from the ground up by ordinary people – is desperately needed.

“That’s exactly what we’re doing this weekend. This is a member-led party, and it’ll be members from all across Scotland who’ll be collectively making key decisions in Dundee – from our approach to Scottish independence, to our own organisational set-up, and our approach to this year’s Holyrood elections.

“No-one said founding a new party from scratch would be easy – but with a genocidal right-wing Labour government in power in Westminster and a stale SNP government running out of ideas in Holyrood, the need for Your Party in Scotland is clear – and this conference is just the start.”