LABOUR are considering changing their constitution to rule out ever going into a formal coalition with the SNP, Trending In The News can reveal.
Sir Keir Starmer is desperate to stop Tories claiming he would do a deal with Nicola Sturgeon and allow indyref2 for a sniff of power.
Sir Keir Starmer is looking at changing the Labour Party’s constitution to rule out official coalitions with the SNP
Labour lost the 2015 general election after the Tories punted out an attack ad which pictured Ed Miliband in the pocket of then SNP leader Alex Salmond.
Tory MPs plan to hammer the same message – that a vote for Labour could end up in a coalition of chaos and the breakup of the UK – at the next election.
One Labour insider said the party is considering changing its rulebook to rule out formal coalitions with nationalist parties.
The Labour told Trending In The News: “We are looking at writing it into our manifesto at conference. We don’t need to go into a formal coalition with the SNP.
“What are the SNP going to do? Vote down a Labour government and bring the Tories in? That would be catnip for us.
“If we can’t do it with the constitution at conference we will figure out some other mechanism to do it.”
But even if they change their rulebook to rule out a formal coalition, Labour could still try to govern off the back of SNP votes.
The move has echoes of Tony Blair’s clause 4 moment – when, in 1995, he ripped up the party’s commitment to mass nationalisation.