We will have independence vote by 2023, pledges Nicola
NICOLA Sturgeon yesterday unveiled a string of costly election giveaways as she set out plans for another independence referendum for Scotland.
Launching her Holyrood election manifesto, the SNP leader made clear she wanted to see enough separatist MSPs returned on May 6 to push through a referendum by the end of 2023.
The First Minister also promised a tax freeze, despite a hefty £6billion spending splurge that would see dentistry charges scrapped and free bikes for thousands of children.
Her manifesto insisted a re-elected SNP administration would push ahead with arranging an independence vote, despite
Boris Johnson ruling out a second referendum while he is in office.
But opponents rounded on the SNP’s timing of calls for a vote before the economy had recovered from the pandemic.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: “If they get a majority, the SNP will put a referendum roadblock in front of Scotland’s recovery.”
Pamela Nash, chief executive of the Scotland in Union campaign group, added: “The SNP needs to accept that the Covid crisis is not over when lockdown is lifted and the economy reopens – it will take many years of recovery.”
Ms Sturgeon claimed Mr Johnson will have no “democratic, electoral or moral justification” in maintaining his referendum veto if a majority of separatist MSPs back one.
She also pledged that income tax rates would be frozen over the five years of the next parliament, despite boasting that the manifesto was “packed” with spending commitments. These included the abolition of NHS dentistry charges and free bikes for children whose parents cannot afford to buy them one.
An Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis found that overall funding per person is 30 per cent higher in Scotland than in England, thanks largely to the block grant from the UK Treasury. But Ms Sturgeon dismissed suggestions her promised spending spree supported the case for remaining in the Union. She also insisted that separation from the UK would not pile more misery on firms already struggling to keep afloat during lockdown.