A LABOUR MP has made a “politically devastating" admission as she confirmed her party prefers to collaborate with Tories than work with the SNP.
Siobhain McDonagh admitted that the Labour Party was punishing its elected representatives for refusing to work with Conservatives as she confirmed two councillors in Edinburgh had been suspended for not voting for the Tories over the SNP.
Speaking on Politics Live she said: “Keir Starmer has made it completely clear that there’s absolutely no deals to do with the SNP.
"And actually, in Scotland, Labour has gone so far as to rule out any relationship with them even in local elections. I think we lost control of Aberdeen council because we refused to do it.
"Only last week, we suspended two Labour councillors in Edinburgh because they weren’t prepared to vote for the Tories over the SNP.”
McDonagh was referring to an event last month when Ross McKenzie and Katrina Faccenda were temporarily suspended for refusing to back a deal with the Tories and LibDems.
Her comments caught the attention of the First Minister.
Refreshingly frank (and politically devastating) from a Labour MP about her party’s priorities in Scotland: “Only last week, we (@ScottishLabour) suspended two Labour councillors in Edinburgh because they weren’t prepared to vote for the Tories over the SNP” https://t.co/kSDwwSzTOr
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) July 12, 2022
Nicola Sturgeon wrote on Twitter: “Refreshingly frank (and politically devastating) from a Labour MP about her party’s priorities in Scotland.”
McDonagh’s stance also caught the ire of SNP MP Drew Hendry who tweeted: “Anyone minded to vote for Labour in Scotland should just have a listen to this. A rare moment of astonishing honesty over where they are now. Suspending elected Labour politicians for *NOT* voting with the Tories.”
Anyone minded to vote for Labour in Scotland should just have a listen to this. A rare moment of astonishing honesty over where they are now. Suspending elected Labour politicians for *NOT* voting with the Tories. https://t.co/cAuJaACZ0V
— Drew Hendry MP🇺🇦🏴 #ScotlandsChoice (@drewhendrySNP) July 12, 2022
Labour has recently gone to great lengths to stress that they will refuse to work with the SNP as Anas Sarwar ruled out any deals between the two parties in the run-up to May’s local council elections.
In reality, Sarwar's party formed a number of councils with support from the Conservatives. The full list of those Labour/Tory administrations is available here.
More recently, Labour leader Keir Starmer said no deals would be made with the SNP in Westminster in a bid to pre-empt any Tory attack lines on a “coalition of chaos” between the two parties.
Today a Labour MP applauded my suspension from the Labour group in Edinburgh for taking a stance against deals with Tories. She is wrong, she is often wrong. Labour exists to fight the Tories not support them. pic.twitter.com/yzsPFn3485
— Katrina Faccenda (@KatrinaFaccenda) July 12, 2022
Faccenda later Tweeted about McDonagh's comments on Politics Live.
She wrote: "Today a Labour MP applauded my suspension from the Labour group in Edinburgh for taking a stance against deals with Tories. She is wrong, she is often wrong. Labour exists to fight the Tories not support them."
