Former Labour candidate Jamie Kerr defects to SNP

Immigration expert and former Scottish Labour candidate Jamie Kerr has defected to the SNP.

Mr Kerr, a partner at Thorntons and a former Holyrood candidate for Shetland in 2011, switched his allegiance after saying he could not remain in a party “that no longer speaks for Scotland”.

The move came as Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale joined other party figures in Cardiff to discuss home rule as an alternative to Scottish nationalism and Conservative unionism.

Mr Kerr, who revealed his support for independence before the 2014 referendum, said Ms Dugdale would be remembered for having “failed to stand up for Scottish interests when a hard right Tory government is dragging Scotland from the EU and single market”.

He said: “While Labour obsesses with opposing the SNP at every possible turn, they have failed to stand up to Tories’ intent on a hard Brexit.

“It’s time to accept that the people of Scotland should get the choice to decide their own future.

“I cannot be a member of a party that no longer speaks for Scotland.”