Thread by @David_K_Clark

This seems bonkers at first glance, but when you think about it, it’s actually much worse. It suggests that unionism has now supplanted democratic socialism as Labour’s core belief system. It would certainly be interesting to see this historic shift debated at conference. 1/

https://twitter.com/kateferguson4/status/1563598020314537988

There is no suggestion that the proposed constitutional change would rule out coalitions with any other parties whose policies conflict with Labour’s; not even with the hated Tories. The SNP (and presumably Plaid Cymru), uniquely, are to be designated as untouchables. 2/

I assume some rationale will be provided, such as “no deals with parties that want to break up the UK”. The problems with this are obvious. What about Labour’s alliance with the SDLP, which advocates a united Ireland? Will SDLP MPs no longer be able to take the Labour whip? 3/

Until recently, this would have been a ridiculous question. But Keir Starmer, responding to a question he obviously hadn’t prepared for, has already said that he intends to campaign against a united Ireland in any border poll. 4/

This indicates that he has no understanding of the politics of what he’s dealing with. He sensed the read-across to the Scottish question and framed his answer accordingly. But he did so at cost to the principle that the UK has no “selfish interest” in blocking Irish unity. 5/

Also, what are the implications for Labour in Wales, which has already governed in coalition with Plaid Cymru? Will Labour in London now enforce on its Welsh colleagues a prohibition on future coalitions with “separatists”? If so, what is left of devolution? 6/

This proposal is designed to dispose of a political problem in England, but its most obvious impact will be in Scotland where even those not persuaded of the case for independence will understand that Labour sees their constitutional debate as somehow deviant and unacceptable. 7/

If this passes, I expect Scottish Labour candidates at the next election to be repeatedly asked why coalitions with the Tories are not also constitutionally prohibited. This will sit alongside increasingly visible examples of Labour-Tory cooperation in Scotland. 8/

Voters should therefore be expected to draw the obvious conclusion that defending the Union is now more important to Labour than promoting social justice. The effect of this, inevitably, will be to put a low cap on Labour’s ability to recover in Scotland. 9/

The charitable conclusion is that this was a throwaway idea floated over a boozy Friday lunch with a Sunday journalist. These things happen, as I should know. Hopefully it will be forgotten. If not, Labour is about to open up a whole world of pain for itself. 10/end

Looks like my boozy Friday lunch theory might have been on the mark.

https://twitter.com/bbcdavidwl/status/1564162749848031232