Brown faces renewed call for Scottish independence poll

LONDON (AFP) - The head of the Labour party in Scotland renewed Thursday a call for an early referendum on Scottish independence, in what is seen as a new embarrassment to embattled British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Wendy Alexander called on Scotland's pro-independence First Minister Alex Salmond to bring forward a planned referendum on separating the country from the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

"I have offered Labour's support for an early referendum," she said in the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh, accusing the SNP -- which plans a public vote but not before 2010 -- of fearing the result of a referendum.

"The judgment of history will be between those who wanted to let the people speak, and that is me and my colleagues, and those who wanted delay in order to foment grievance... and because they feared the result," she added.

Alexander, whose party is in opposition in Edinburgh, first made the comments at the weekend, in what critics said was evidence of Prime Minister Brown's weakening grip on his own party and its allies.

On Wednesday the British leader, who opposes a referendum, was taunted about her comments at his weekly question and answer session in the House of Commons.

Asked by opposition leader David Cameron whether he agreed with Alexander's view that there should be a referendum now on Scottish independence, he denied she had said that, but did not make clear what he thought she had said.

Commentators ridiculed Brown's stance. "Sometimes Gordon Brown speaks as if he wants to wish away reality," said the Labour-supporting Guardian daily, calling Alexander's remarks "an obvious test of Mr. Brown's authority."

Under former prime minister Tony Blair, the Labour government devolved power to Scotland and Wales in the late 1990s, establishing a Scottish executive in Edinburgh and a Welsh assembly in Cardiff.

The devolved Scottish administration, initially controlled by Labour, fell in elections last May to the SNP.

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