Ian Murray, Labour’s only MP in Scotland, has said he is convinced he will not see Scottish independence in his lifetime but admitted it may take another referendum to break the constitutional deadlock.
But Labour’s Shadow Scottish Secretary said the party would have to fight “very, very hard” to prevent the SNP winning a vote without making a realistic case for independence.
Murray talked about the constitutional prospects for Scotland as he opened up about losing his father when he was aged just nine.
Speaking to former Labour colleague Gloria De Piero, Murray said the SNP cannot find a “viable proposition” for independence.
He said: “I absolutely don’t think I will live to see it, because it just doesn’t work. And that’s not to say they might not win it eventually. Nicola Sturgeon has said that if they lose a second one, they’ll have a third.
“All of the excuses that they give for another referendum are all the excuses that were given the day after the last one.
“So, they’re just finding an excuse and a trigger to have one and as all that’s happening, and I see it in my own constituency day in, day out is the NHS is getting worse, educational attainment gap’s widening, transport is dreadful, the economy is slipping behind the rest of the UK, the number of higher rate taxpayers is diminishing, the demographics are much older and therefore all the problems that comes with that.
“None of that’s being dealt with and I just think at some point, something will break, and Scottish voters will go, ‘We can’t go on like this’.
“Maybe that’ll take another referendum. I don’t want one, we shouldn’t have one, if we end up having one we’ll fight very very hard to stay in the United Kingdom.
“But something’s going to have to break to get out of this. Otherwise, we’re going to stay on this constitutional merry go round and things are just going to get worse. This Scottish Government essentially uses the Scottish Parliament to manage decline.”
'Dad's not coming home'
Murray, who serves in Edinburgh South, also opened up to former Labour MP Piero about losing his dad, Jim, when he was just nine years old.
Recalling on GB News interview the night he died, Murray said: “We were playing snooker at home, mum was out at the bingo, and he was in his pyjamas. His bottoms fell down and I was only nine so I started laughing.
“My brother was a little bit embarrassed and a bit concerned. But, you know, he also just thought it was him messing around. Then he never missed a ball for about ten minutes. He just potted everything and we were going: ‘This is a bit strange’.
“Then ten minutes later, he was on the floor. He had a cerebral haemorrhage. Mum was called and rushed home. Eventually the ambulance came. Then at four o’clock in the morning mum returned and said, ‘Dad’s not coming home’.
“The following morning, I woke up, went into the lounge, and the whole family were sitting there, and that’s when it really sunk in.”
Murray said the lesson from the experience was that his father did not complain about being unwell.
“He had been ill for some time and didn’t tell anyone and he should have really got some advice. Whether or not, in the mid-80s, he would have been able to get the medical attention required to sort something like that, I don’t know.”
“But he was having blackouts at work and wasn’t telling anyone, he was feeling a bit depressed, which is all the great symptoms of having something wrong with your brain.
“My dad was 39 when he died. I’m six years older than that now and being a father now as well, I reflect on it a lot. I mean it was utterly traumatic, and my poor mum had to deal with the consequences of it. She went into 6th gear and brought up two boys on her own.”
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