There will be no Remain Alliance in Scotland
A Liberal Democrat MP has said the party would not stand aside to help the SNP in a ‘Remain Alliance’.
On Radio 5Live, Scottish Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael was asked if his party would step aside for SNP candidates in a Remain alliance.
He replied: “No we wouldn’t and for one very simple reason: the SNP are one side of another fundamental nationalist argument which is about Scottish independence. So no, we wouldn’t be able to work with them.”
These comments were criticised by the SNP. Neil Gray MP said that the Lib Dems had refused to rule out a deal with the Tories but would not work with the SNP.
“It seems the LibDems are happy to jump back into bed with the extreme right Tory party but not work with us to ensure that the livelihoods of citizens across the UK are not destroyed by a disastrous Brexit,” Gray said.
Left Foot Forward asked a Liberal Democrat spokesperson if Carmichael’s comments reflected the Liberal Democrat official position but did not receive a response.
Both Carmichael and the Lib Dems’ new leader Jo Swinson are Scottish MPs with a history of animosity with the SNP – the closest competitor in both their seats.
During the 2015 election campaign, Carmichael leaked a memo which falsely claimed that SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon preferred David Cameron to Ed Milliband.
After Jo Swinson beat the SNP in the 2017 East Dunbartonshire election, the SNP questioned whether Swinson’s campaign had breached spending limits.
Swinson has also been criticised for ruling out working with Corbyn’s Labour, even in the event of a hung parliament.
She has however refused to rule out working with the Conservatives in the event of a hung parliament – as she did between 2010 and 2015.
“I have not said never in any future scenario, where things are different,” she said about a deal with the Tories last month.
Update: The words “reportedly” and “according to the Herald” were removed from this article after we verified that Carmichael had made these comments.
8 Responses to “Lib Dem MP rules out working with SNP in Remain Alliance”
Gary
Carmichael, in particular, has an astonishing amount of ‘animosity’ towards the SNP. It is not so much between the parties as FROM Carmichael. In the article it says he leaked a memo which “falsely claimed” Sturgeon made positive remarks about Cameron. This is slightly incorrect. There was NO memo, Carmichael fabricated it and then had it leaked via his assistant to the papers as though the memo was real and the remarks within it were factual. Carmichael’s animosity runs deep because, as a result of this being discovered, his own constituents took him to court (private prosecution) over his having done this to gain electoral advantage, further complaints were made to the Standards Committee over his abuse of office (remember he was a Cabinet Minister abusing his position to do this) The Standards Committee refused to investigate as he had already left office and remarkably, despite admitting in court that he had lied every step of the way and abusing his Cabinet post to do so, was acquitted. It shows that despite being an admitted liar and abusing the office there is nothing to legally prevent him from doing the same again.
My point is, the animosity comes FROM him and it is personal. The constituents were Independence supporters and much of their financial backing came from other Independence supporters too. He was left to pay hefty costs.
The feelings of party members of LibDem and Labour Party is very different. There is little animosity. Many would like to see some kind of deal/pact etc to ensure that Boris doesn’t crash us out and would look favourably on any deal that saw the Tories being kept out…
Tom Sacold
Nationalism is antithesis of socialism
Tom Robertson
Scottish Nationalism is very different from the english version. It is primarily about democracy. Scotland hasn’t voted for a Conservative gov’t in my 61yrs of life but because we are consistently outvoted by England’s higher population we are constantly “over-ruled”. Scotland is in a “Union” with England that doesn’t work for Scotland so we are entitled to leave without England’s permission for the same reasons as England wants to leave the EU.
The SNP have delivered better policies than Labour ever did.