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Labour finally admits Scotland 'could survive independently'

PETER MACMAHON

LABOUR will today signal a change of approach to the challenge posed by the Nationalists, accepting it must speak for people's hopes as well as fears and admitting Scotland would not "wither and die" as an independent country.

The party was criticised during the Holyrood election for running a negative campaign, based on warnings of the risks of economic turmoil if the SNP took power at Holyrood.

But today one of Labour's senior figures at Westminster says that the party has to change its approach to voters and accept that Scotland could survive as an independent country.

David Cairns, the minister of state at the Scotland Office, will admit that Labour is "no longer the party of the permanent ruling establishment in the Scottish parliament, or most Scottish councils".

Speaking to Labour's youth conference in Glasgow, he will call on the party to "renew ourselves, re-form our policy offer and re-establish a bond of trust with the people".

He will add that the party "must articulate policies that speak to people's hopes and ambitions, not just their fears and worries".

Mr Cairns will warn the party has to find a way of articulating "an innate pride in Scotland".

He will add: "Scottish Labour does not believe that Scotland would wither and die as an independent country."

An SNP spokesman: "It isn't just Kelvin McKenzie and Westminster Tories who run Scotland down.

"Labour in Scotland have played the same scaremongering game for years, flying in the face of the facts about Scotland's ability to prosper as an independent country."