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Keir Starmer will commit Labor to a new wave of decentralization in the UK as he seeks to avoid Scottish demands for independence.
In a keynote address on Monday, the Labor leader will say that the party’s next manifesto will present a program to win power “in order to remove as much power as possible from Westminster.”
Starmer will say that he is offering “a positive alternative to the Scottish people” while at the same time seeking to “preserve and renew the UK”.
Advisers said the speech, Starmer’s first on the union issue, will set the tone for the party’s campaign for next year’s elections to the Scottish Parliament and across the UK generally.
Labor has not held power in Holyrood since 2007, while it has struggled to maintain a foothold in Scotland’s Westminster elections after being virtually eliminated by the SNP in the 2015 general election.
With support for independence on the rise, Starmer will argue that the shared “history, values and identity” of the people of the UK mean that there should be no room for internal borders.
Instead, it will offer a vision of the four nations of the United Kingdom coming together to build a country that is a “force for social justice and moral good” in the world.
“I don’t believe in putting borders across any part of our UK, in dividing the people, communities and families who have been together for so long,” he will say, according to anticipated excerpts from his speech.
“I believe in that fundamental Labor principle that we achieve more together than alone.
“The four nations are working together to build a more open, optimistic and outward-looking country. A UK that is a force for social justice and a moral force for good in the world. “
He will say that he wants the devolution, the decentralization of Westminster’s power, to be one of the hallmarks of the next Labor government.
