WENDY ALEXANDER'S position as Scottish Labour leader is "absolutely safe", a senior MSP and former minister insisted today.
Malcolm Chisholm claimed Ms Alexander's call for an early referendum on independence had widespread support, including from the business community.
And he tried to play down Gordon Brown's failure to back Ms Alexander when pressed on the issue at
Prime Minister's Question Time in the Commons yesterday.
Labour has been left in turmoil by the sudden U-turn on a referendum which Ms Alexander announced in a weekend TV interview.
She attacked the SNP for waiting until 2010 before producing its referendum Bill and said she did not fear the verdict of the Scottish people. "Bring it on," she added.
But the move took colleagues, including the Prime Minister, by surprise. One Labour MP said the general view at Westminster was Ms Alexander had "probably gone mad". And SNP, Conservative and Lib Dem leaders at Holyrood said her position was untenable.
But Mr Chisholm said she was "absolutely safe". He said: "What Wendy said this week has widespread support not just in the Labour Party, but throughout Scotland. What she said was the SNP should bring their referendum Bill forward in the interests of Scotland."
He said that was a position backed by business organisations such as the CBI and Institute of Directors. Mr Chisholm also denied the Prime Minister's failure to endorse a referendum yesterday amounted to a snub, saying: "I know Gordon Brown holds Wendy Alexander in the highest regard and he trusts her political judgement on this issue."
Mr Chisholm hinted Labour could still bring forward its own Bill for a referendum to force discussion of the issue, even though Holyrood's rules mean it would almost certainly not be allowed to go forward as legislation.
Labour strategists say the rules allow non-government Bills to be blocked on the grounds the government is planning similar legislation – but only once the proposed Bill has gone through a consultation process and been published. Mr Chisholm said:
"A Bill before the parliament, which would be fully consulted on, would raise the whole issue of the referendum Bill."
The Prime Minister caused astonishment in the Commons when he responded to Tory leader David Cameron's question on whether he agreed with Ms Alexander's call for an immediate referendum by claiming: "That is not what she has said". Mr Cameron later wrote to Mr Brown, claiming he was treating people "like fools".
The full article contains 417 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
