Alexander backs Scotland referendum

The Scottish Labour leader has supported calls for a referendum on independence, for the first time.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said the Scottish National Party (SNP) would seek legislation in 2010 for a referendum on the issue after a two-year-long national dialogue.

Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander, who has opposed a referendum along with Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties, now appears to see it as a way of ending uncertainty over the SNP demands.

She said: "I don't fear the verdict of the Scottish people. Bring it on."

The pro-independence SNP formed a minority government after Scottish polls last year, breaking a long Labour hold.

Support for independence after 300 years of union with England varies from poll to poll, with a YouGov poll in Saturday's Times newspaper giving a figure of 19 per cent, while other analysts have put it at up to one third in the nation of just over five million people.

The SNP said its own poll-of-polls showed 41 per cent supported independence.

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