People do not want return to uncertainty

I pen this column from my office in Holyrood in the midst of a twoday debate on whether Scotland should have another referendum on independence.

At the time of writing we have yet to continue the second day of debate, which was suspended prematurely due to the horrific terrorist attacks in Westminster.

The outcome of the vote which will follow is already a given, with the Greens breaking their manifesto commitment to only support a second referendum if a million people signed a petition to give their support to the SNP.

Presiding officer Ken Macintosh used the words “our sister parliament” when declaring that the debate would wait for another day.

And sister parliament it is for we are a family of nations and in 2014 the people of Scotland decided decisively that we should remain so.

The SNP promised that the independence referendum in 2014 was a once-in-a-generation event and they should be held to that promise.

They have been quick to brand Theresa May’s decision to say “not at the moment” as undemocratic but it is an affront to democracy for Nicola Sturgeon to unilaterally demand another referendum when there is no appetite from the Scottish people.

Some argue that the outcome of the EU referendum was “a material change in circumstances” and constitutes an excuse for a second referendum.

The SNP should not break the vote down to its component parts whenit was taken as a sum of the whole, in this case the whole UK which Scotland voted decisively to remain a part of.

Also the SNP cannot even confirm or agree how – or even if – Scotland would join the European Union itself.

I have been inundated with emails from constituents about a second referendum and on balance it seems that the majority of correspondence is largely against.

A common theme has been how divisive the first referendum was and how people do not wish to see a return to the uncertainty another referendum would bring. They also want the SNP to get on with governing Scotland.

Indeed, there is a lot to sort out: things that the Scottish Government is entirely responsible for.

Things like education, languishing in the international league table doldrums. Or health, where we have a staffing and waiting list crisis. Or the economy, where Scotland lags behind the rest of the UK. Or local public services, hammered year after year by cuts to council budgets.

These are the things we should be talking about in the Scottish Parliament. These are the things worthy of two-day debates.

Last May I was elected on a pledge to oppose a second referendum – that vote that we were promised was once in a generation.

I can’t believe that we go to the polls this May for the council elections with the threat of another referendum hanging over us.

There is a lot to sort out: things that the Scottish Government is responsible for

Sister parliaments The attack at Westminster put Holyrood’s debate on hold