 | 'I don't lose any sleep about the possibility of Scotland becoming an independent nation state, provided the people are not bounced into it. There should be a healthy debate. If you believe, as I do, in the sovereignty of the people of Scotland, then it is up to them to decide.' Dennis Canavan, Independent MP and MSP for Falkirk West, 2 nd October 2000. |  |
He was asked at the close of a long news conference if he was concerned he might be handing his constituency over to parties opposed to the Union.
"When have I been a Unionist?" he replied. "Yes, I am a unionist, a trade unionist. I don't lose any sleep about the possibility of Scotland becoming an independent nation state, provided the people are not bounced into it.
"There should be a healthy debate. If you believe, as I do, in the sovereignty of the people of Scotland, then it is up to them to decide."
Left-winger Mr Canavan said it was too early to say who would win the by-election where Labour is expected to struggle to defend the seat he won for his former party with a majority of 13,783 at the General Election. "I will wait until I see the candidates - it all depends of them," he said.
Although one of Scotland's longest serving MPs, Mr Canavan was always known to be at ease with the SNP's flagship policy of independence, which is also supported by the Scottish Socialist Party led by his parliamentary colleague and fellow minority MSP Mr Tommy Sheridan.
The SNP is seen as the major challenger in Falkirk West although the SSP could hope to make a strong impression in a seat where Mr Canavan has long proclaimed himself a socialist.
After being a Westminster MP for more than a quarter of a century, having turned the once most marginal Labour seat in Scotland into one of the safest, he denied he was forcing a by-election on Labour out of personal vengeance.
"If anyone had told me in 1974 that I would be having this press conference this week I would not have believed them. But events have moved on and I feel I have no choice. I have bent over backwards to accommodate the Labour Party and it seems they just don't want to listen."
He expressed disappointment with Labour's handling of his rejection for the Scottish Parliament and his subsequent expulsion from the party.
"They have mishandled the whole matter. I don't regret any of the decisions I have taken. Some of them have been very difficult to take, but I still think they were correct."
Mr Canavan said he had repeatedly asked for his case to be reconsidered, but had been ignored by "arrogant and intransigent" Labour officials from the Prime Minister down, including general secretary Margaret McDonagh and her assistant, David Evans, and others.
"I still have many friends in the Scottish Labour Party, both in Westminster and the Scottish Parliament.
"As you probably know I cannot count Donald Dewar as one of those friends and I don't know if Tony Blair had any conversation with him about me.
"That is something Donald would be able to explain. You have to remember that Walworth Road decides matters involving membership, not the Scottish executive committee.
"And so I felt justified in taking up the matter with the leadership of the Labour Party."
Mr Canavan appeared anxious to keep open the possibility of a healing of his row with Labour "in the fullness of time."
When he was asked if he would call off the by-election, even at this late stage, if he was readmitted to Labour, he replied: "Who knows what the future might hold?
"But I will not crawl on my hands and knees to be readmitted. And I won't ditch the principles I fought and won the election for last year.
"I take the view that the Labour Party should be big enough and tolerant enough to put up with people who constructively criticise the leadership."
After claiming Labour would merely have parachuted a puppet into Falkirk West if he had quit last year, he was asked if he regarded the official Labour Party candidate, Mr Eric Joyce, as a puppet. "I don't know much about him," he said.
"He first showed face in Falkirk West this time last year when he was actively campaigning against me. But I don't know enough about him to say what calibre he is."
Mr Canavan said he would not be endorsing any candidate and would remain neutral "at this stage" but he added: "I might have something to say later."
He agreed that without him the seat could be vulnerable to Labour's rivals. "If anyone has made it vulnerable it is the Labour Party leadership. It was a safe Labour seat when I was privileged to represent it."
The leadership had not learned to be more tolerant even after the disasters provoked by its "ballot rigging" against Rhodri Morgan in the Welsh Assembly or Ken Livingstone in London, he claimed. "I have been forced to the conclusion that any reconciliation was a forlorn hope because of the arrogance and intransigence of the leadership."
Mr Canavan revealed that colleagues in the Labour Party had persuaded him to receive an "emissary from on high" who wanted him not to provoke a by-election after the Scottish elections last year.
"They also opened up the possibility of readmission to the Labour Party," he said, but nothing had happened despite their efforts to open up a channel of communication for him.
-Oct 3rd
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