Scottish Labour to hold conference over indyref2 stance

Richard Leonard is said to want to hold the special conference in May

Scottish Labour could hold a special conference in the spring to decide whether to change its stance on a second independence referendum.

The party is currently opposed to another referendum.

But several senior figures have called for that position to change after Scottish Labour lost all but one of its MPs in last month's general election.

Party sources told BBC Scotland that it was too early to say that Labour is ready to back a referendum.

But they said that a multi-option referendum, which would also give voters the choice of maximum devolution within the UK, might be more likely to win the party's support.

It is understood that Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard wants to hold the special conference in May, and will present his proposals to the party's executive committee on Saturday.

• Is Labour's position on independence changing?

Labour won just 18.6% of the votes in the election in Scotland, losing six of its seven seats to the SNP in the latest in a series of disastrous election results over the past decade.

There has been confusion over Labour's position on indyref2, with shadow chancellor John McDonnell contradicting Mr Leonard last August by insisting that the party would not stand in the way of a referendum.

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn later said during the election campaign that a Labour government would not back a referendum in its "formative years".

Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, says she wants to hold a referendum later this year - but the UK government has made clear it will not agree to transfer the powers that Ms Sturgeon says would be needed to make the vote legal.

Labour leadership candidate Clive Lewis has argued it would be wrong for the party to oppose a referendum if the SNP has a mandate to hold one

Scottish Labour MSPs including Neil Findlay and Monica Lennon have called for Labour to rethink its position in the wake of its election defeat, arguing that it should be for the Scottish Parliament - rather than Westminster - to decide if and when a vote on independence is held.

But Ian Murray, the party's only remaining MP in Scotland and a candidate to become Labour's next deputy leader, has urged it to remain a firmly "pro-UK party".

The issue of whether another referendum should be held has also featured in the race to replace Mr Corbyn as party leader, with MP Clive Lewis - who is seen as an outsider in the contest - writing in the National newspaper that there should be "no question of Labour opposing a second independence referendum if there is a mandate to hold one."

But he also argued that: "Radical federalism, with the maximum possible autonomy for Scotland, would provide the best solution for all the constituent nations of the United Kingdom."

Another leadership candidate, Jess Phillips, told BBC Scotland earlier this week that she did not think there should be another referendum as the majority of voters in Scotland had backed pro-UK parties in the general election.

She added: "I think that we should be talking about things that are relevant to the lives of people in Scotland. I can't see a circumstance where I think it would be better for Scotland to leave the UK."

The Scottish Conservatives claimed that the special conference was a sign that Labour was preparing for a "painful surrender to the SNP" over independence which it said would be a "betrayal" of those who voted No in the referendum in 2014.