Kezia Dugdale calls for a new federal ‘Act of Union’

Kezia Dugdale - credit Iain Gray 

Only a new federal constitutional set-up can keep the United Kingdom together, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale is expected to argue today.

In a speech to think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research in London, the Lothians MSP will make the case for a new constitutional convention across the whole of the UK to produce a new Act of Union.

The setup would include more powers for Scotland as well as the English regions in a “new settlement founded on ideas of the left”, she is expected to say.

The speech will mark Dugdale’s first intervention on the constitution since she tasked former UK justice secretary Lord Falconer with exploring federalist options in the summer.

Deputy Scottish Labour leader Alex Rowley has since called for "home rule within a confederal United Kingdom".

Dugdale will say: “The Act of Union of 1707 still underpins the relationship between Scotland and the rest of the UK.

“Following the Tories’ Brexit gamble, we need a new Act of Union for this new century. That is why the time has come for the rest of the UK to follow where Scotland led in the 1980s and 1990s and establish a People’s Constitutional Convention to re-establish the UK for a new age."

She will add: “While devolution has been positive for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, we have to acknowledge that progress has been erratic and while there has been significant progress in some parts of the UK, other parts have been left behind.

“So I would not want the convention to just deliberate and report, but to produce a new Act of Union which would reaffirm the partnership between our nations and renew it for the future.”

Dudgale will argue the majority of Scots are not represented by the SNP or the Conservatives.

“More than ever, we have two governing parties in Scotland that are out of step with what the majority of people in Scotland want. The Tories want Scotland in the UK and out of Europe, and the SNP want Scotland in the EU, but out of the UK.

“Continuing to pull our country in each of these directions risks breaking the union once and for all.”