Sadiq Khan: nationalism can be as divisive as bigotry and racism

Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, has risked causing a row over Scottish independence by warning that nationalism can be as divisive as racism and religious bigotry.

Khan is expected to tell Scottish Labour’s spring conference on Saturday that there is no difference between nationalists trying to divide Scottish and English people and “those who try to divide us on the basis of our background, race or religion”.

Drawing on his experience fighting the London mayoral campaign when his Tory opponent, Zac Goldsmith, was accused of feeding anti-Muslim sentiment against him, Khan will imply a fresh Scotland independence referendum would be as destabilising as the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s US presidential victory.

“The world is an increasingly divided place – with Brexit, the election of President Trump and the rise of populist and narrow nationalist parties around the world,” Khan is expected to say, in his first speech at a Scottish Labour conference.

“Now is not the time to fuel that division or to seek separation or isolation. Now is not the time to play on people’s fears or to pit one part of our country – or one section of our society – against another.”

An SNP spokesperson said: “Sadiq Khan is quite right to highlight the dangers of prejudice – but it is spectacularly ill-judged to compare supporters of Scottish independence to Trump or Brexiteers, and indeed it is an insult to many former and current Labour voters.

“It is only the SNP government which is providing principled and strong opposition to the Tories’ hard Brexit obsession, while Labour run up the white flag and allow themselves to be rolled over by the Brexiteers and their rightwing agenda.”

Scottish independence campaigners insist their brand of civic nationalism is inclusive and non-sectarian, and includes prominent English campaigners, as well as Asian and east European activists. They insist an independent Scotland would continue working closely with the rest of the UK.

Khan’s remarks threaten the alliance that he and Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, have forged to resist the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Along with Northern Ireland, London and Scotland voted heavily against Brexit last June.

Khan and Sturgeon have met and spoken several times since. When Khan beat Goldsmith to win the mayoral contest, Sturgeon tweeted: “Good meeting with new London mayor @SadiqKhan earlier. Look forward to building constructive working relationship.”

Khan is expected to resist claims he is accusing Scottish nationalism of being racist or sectarian. In extracts of his speech seen in advance he said he believed Scotland and London were both “beacons of progressive values”. Labour sources said Khan believed nationalism as a concept was divisive by definition because it stresses differences, implies superiority and erects barriers to other people.

In a direct attack on nationalists who portray London as Scotland’s opponent, he will tell delegates in Perth: “There are some in Scotland who try to define London as your enemy, who want to paint the city that I love as the home of ‘the elite’ or ‘the establishment’ – and who want the Scottish people to believe that London is a hotbed of conservatism.

“They make out that London is always working to undermine Scotland. I can tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. That is not my London and it’s not Labour’s London.”

He will argue that London and Scotland’s votes against Brexit showed they had much in common. “London and Scotland have always had a very special relationship. We’re both beacons of progressive values and hope within the United Kingdom.

“We celebrate our diversity and take pride in our tolerance. We strive for equality and to increase opportunities. And we fight tooth and nail for fairness and inclusion.”