May: I won’t change mind on a second referendum
THERESA May has insisted she will not change her mind about blocking the SNP’s plan to hold another divisive independence referendum.
The Prime Minister yesterday firmly rejected Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that her position will ‘crumble’ if the SNP wins a majority of the seats in Scotland in June’s General Election.
She said she would not allow another vote on the SNP’s plan to break up Britain unless there was clear evidence that the people of Scotland wanted one.
Her comments came as a new poll revealed that a majority of Scots do not want another vote on Scotland’s future – and that 55 per cent would still vote No in a rerun of the 2014 referendum.
Mrs May was speaking in an exclusive interview with the Scottish Daily Mail ahead of her first visit to Scotland of the General Election campaign today.
Rejecting Miss Sturgeon’s view, she said: ‘I think now is the worst possible time for the SNP to be demanding a second independence referendum.
‘We should be working together right now, not pulling apart, and putting all our energies into making sure we get the right deal for the UK and that means the right deal for Scotland as part of the United Kingdom in our negotiations with the European Union.
‘I think talking about an independence referendum would disrupt our negotiations and I think it would weaken my hand. So I am very clear that we need that strong mandate and strong negotiating hand at the table.’
She said it ‘wouldn’t be fair’ to ask Scots to vote in another independence referendum ‘without knowing what the future partnership would be or what the alternative for an independent Scotland would look like’.
Mrs May has already turned down Miss Sturgeon’s demand for a referendum between the autumn of next year and spring of 2019, saying that ‘now is not the time’ to debate the issue. Scottish
‘Political and public consent’
Secretary David Mundell and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson have also said there will not be another referendum until there is clear ‘political and public consent’.
Asked what that consent could be, Mrs May said: ‘It is about what people in Scotland want, but it is also about whether the vote could be legal, fair and decisive.’ Highlighting the fact that the SNP insisted the 2014 referendum would be a once-in-a-generation vote, she said the party should put the issue aside and ‘start to focus on the day job’.
The Conservative General Election manifesto is expected to include a clear statement about why there should not be another referendum.
Mrs May said her main message will be that we have a ‘precious union’ in the UK, with one in four of all Scottish jobs reliant on the UK internal market. Figures published earlier this month show that Scotland is teetering on the brink of recession after going backwards in the final three months of 2016, at a time when the UK economy grew.
Mrs May accused the SNP of neglecting the economy and causing damaging uncertainty by pushing for a referendum.
She said making higher rate tax payers in Scotland pay more than elsewhere in the UK ‘sends a bad message’ and will cause further damage.
She said: ‘We are doing all we can to support Scotland’s economy through the modern industrial strategy that we are developing and through low UK-wide business taxes, but the SNP has chosen to make Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK. It is their choice but it sends a bad message about Scotland as a competitive place to do business.
‘I think the most important thing for the SNP is to abandon its obsession with independence, remove the uncertainty that the call for a referendum is causing, focus on the day job and take action to secure Scotland’s economy – and that means measures that back business, jobs and growth.’
Today, Mrs May is due to speak about the efforts the UK Government is making to boost the economy of the whole of the UK.