When No means Yes just getting stronger
Sturgeon says PM’s simply making the case for indy
BORIS Johnson’s rejection of demands to hold IndyRef2 will increase support for independence, Nicola Sturgeon has claimed.
The First Minister immediately dismissed the Prime Minister’s formal denial of referendum powers as “unsustainable and selfdefeating” after Johnson issued a short letter of rejection yesterday.
Sturgeon said: “The Westminster Union cannot be sustained without consent. Democracy will prevail.
“The only question is how long it will take the Tories and the rest of the Westminster establishment to accept that inevitability.”
Mike Russell, the Scottish Government constitution minister, went further and insisted he would deliver a referendum this year because it was “the right thing to do”.
In a bombastic response to Johnson, Russell said the Scottish Government would still go ahead with plans to hold a 2020 referendum.
Russell said: “I think a referendum this year is the right thing to do. I intend to deliver it. It is the right thing to do because it ends the uncertainty.”
The SNP’s next move is more likely to be staging another vote at Holyrood to back the idea of a second referendum.
The UK Government deployed an equally overblown statement from Michael Gove.
The Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster said: “The Scottish Government has got a cheek.
“Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond were crystal clear this was to be a oncein-a-generation event.
“Since then we’ve seen failure in hospitals, the debacle over CalMac ferries and the Scottish Government has a terrible record. My friends and family want a government focused on delivery.”
Johnson announced his refusal to consider Sturgeon’s demand for IndyRef2 on Twitter.
Revealing the letter, he stated: “Today I have written to Nicola Sturgeon.
“The Scottish people voted decisively to keep our United Kingdom together, a result which both the Scottish and UK Governments committed to respect.”
The Prime Minister said he had “carefully considered” the case made for powers to be transferred to Holyrood that would allow it to hold a vote on Scotland’s future.
Like Gove, he reminded the First Minister of her 2014 “personal promise” that the independence referendum was a “once-in-a-generation” event.
Johnson said: “The UK Government will continue to uphold the democratic decision of the Scottish people and the promise that you made to them.
“For that reason I cannot agree to any request for a transfer of power that would lead to further independence referendums.”
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard called for a new campaign for “home rule” to blunt SNP independence demands.
He said: “Scotland and the whole UK are deeply unequal societies which need radical change. But the Tories are hell-bent on destroying what is left of the welfare state, and the SNP is advocating a decade of cuts in a separate Scottish state.
“The people of Scotland rejected independence in 2014 but Scotland remains divided.
“I believe home rule within the UK is the only viable option that stands a chance of healing the divisions in our society. We must demand it now and mobilise for change.”