Ian Bell in the Scotsman, 7 th March 1998.
| 'Language of the sort deployed by Mr McConnell and Mr Robertson is revealing. It reminds us that if there is real hatred in Scotland it flows, as it has long done, from sections of the Labour party towards the SNP.' Ian Bell in the Scotsman, 7 th March 1998. | |
Donald Dewar, the Scottish Secretary, refused to condemn Katherine Walker Shaw's comments when he joined her on the campaign trail in Aberdeen.
Ms Walker Shaw accused the nationalists of stirring up racial tensions which already existed north of the border. She claimed people were outraged at the prospect of having to take loyalty tests to prove their Scottish citizenship.
Mike Russell, the SNP's chief executive, condemned her remarks as a slur on the party and demanded a formal apology from Labour chiefs.
But Mr Dewar, sitting beside Ms Walker Shaw at a press conference in Aberdeen, refused to distance himself from her remarks, saying the SNP's citizenship criteria were a 'legitimate subject for discussion.'
The Prime Minister is expected to lead an attack on the SNP's citizenship policy when he arrives in Scotland tomorrow.
Ms Walker Shaw's comments were made at a hustings debate at Dundee University on Monday when she claimed that the SNP's Scottish citizenship policy 'smacks of a kind of racism comparable to some of the racism some of us know in other countries'. She stood by her remarks yesterday. 'The point I was making is that there is a lot of concern about the lack of clarity and confusion that has been caused by the SNP's policy on citizenship.
'What I would be very loath to happen is for the type of confusion that is being caused by these citizenship policies to encourage forms of racism.'
'I think that is something that we want to avoid in Scotland. I am personally concerned that this confusion may encourage racism in some of the more extreme forms of nationalism that sadly the Commission for Racial Equality has recognised does exist in Scotland.'
Mr Dewar said that the SNP's policy required clarification. He cited the example of Scots parents who had one child born in Scotland and another born south of the Border. He claimed the first would be entitled to citizenship but the second would have to apply.
Mr Dewar said 'Alex Salmond says that they will be generous and that they will try and make sure that people in that situation are accommodated. But he doesn't say how they are going to be accommodated. And I think many people would feel that if we have to rely on his generosity we might be struggling a little bit. Therefore I think it is a very legitimate subject for discussion.'
Mr Russell, for the SNP said : 'There is no scintilla of racism attacked to the SNP and for her to make this slur is unacceptable to everyone in the north-east. The only confusion seems to be in Dewar's mind.
'We have a wide and inclusive policy that says we do not look at where people come from; what we look at is where people are going to.
'If Kathleen Walker Shaw is trying to hang a slur of racism on us, and if Dewar won't dissociate himself from that, then Scottish politics is falling to new depths and we want to stop that now.'
Later, Ms walker Shaw issued a statement, saying 'In the last few days the SNP have done somersaults over citizenship and have been left in total confusion.
'I wish to make it clear that I would never suggest that any member of the SNP was a racist. I would make no such accusation.'
Mr Russell said: 'I was present at the debate and heard the remark, despite the shock and derision from the audience when they realised the smear that Ms Walker Shaw was intending to make.
'This morning at a press conference with Donald Dewar, Ms walker Shaw stood by last night's statement and the Secretary of State supported her.
'This evening Ms Walker Shaw, in an evasive and blustering press release, has finally moved from her position to accept that her allegation was unjustified.
'This is far from an apology, but it is at last a step in the right direction and a recognition of the truth.'
Return to home page