Anas Sarwar rubbishes claim Scottish Labour will allow pro-independence candidates at elections

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Anas Sarwar has shot down claims his party will allow pro-independence candidates to stand for Scottish Labour.The Glasgow MSP said he expected people who stand on the Labour ticket to back his party’s commitment to reforming the UK and Scotland.

The rebuttal came after a newspaper quoted a “senior party source” saying Labour could have room for pro-indy candidates. "Yes we are a pro-unionist party but we are a broad church,” the insider claimed. “That means you could have candidates who back independence.

You don’t have to have a binary position; you can have people with different stances.” After a virtual speech, during which he criticised the SNP and Tory Governments, Sarwar said: “Firstly, whoever it was that was speaking or quoted clearly doesn't understand that decisions on selecting candidates in Scotland, even for a general election, are made by the Scottish Labour party and the Scottish Labour party alone.”He said Labour would back a general election platform of pushing power out of Westminster and Holyrood, adding that he would “expect” every candidate to sign on to this vision.He added: “Whoever was doing the story on Sunday probably doesn't have as much of an understanding of Scottish politics as I, or people on this call, do.”Sarwar said Labour would welcome people who had backed independence in 2014, but had since changed their minds:“There is clearly a difference between candidates, individuals, who supported independence in 2014, and want our country to move on, want our country to reform and renew, whether that is across the UK or indeed within Scotland.”He also said of his relationship with UK Labour leader Keir Starmer:“I've said this to him directly, and I say it publicly - when it comes to Scotland,