PLAN FOR NEW BRITAIN

Starmer vows to give Scots more powers as he rejects Sturgeon's election pledge

- PETER DAVIDSON

LABOUR'S RADICAL VISION TO REFORM THE CONSTITUTION

KEIR Starmer last night hit out at Nicola Sturgeon’s plan to make the next general election a “de facto” independence referendum, claiming it “stands in the way of common sense”.

Launching Labour's plan to reform the UK constitution, Starmer vowed to scrap the House of Lords and hand more powers to Holyrood if elected to lead the country.

But he insisted the next national poll, due to be held in 2024, will be about the economy, the cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine - and not just independence for Scotland.

Sturgeon has pledged to make the next election a single-issue vote on independence after the Supreme Court ruled Holyrood does not have the power to hold a second referendum.

Speaking at the launch of Gordon Brown's Labour report on the UK's future, Starmer said: "I know Nicola Sturgeon intends to try to change it to an election on something else completely - it isn't.