Nicola: I’ll make a decision on new indy bid in autumn
Sturgeon failing to heed Scots’ message at poll, say opponents
NICOLA Sturgeon has been accused of ignoring voters after she said she is considering launching a bid for a second independence referendum in the autumn.
The SNP leader yesterday confirmed she will decide later this year whether or not to demand another vote on her dream of tearing Scotland out of the UK.
But opponents said she has failed to listen to the strong message sent by Scots that they did not want another vote on separation when the SNP lost 21 seats and nearly half a million votes in June’s general election.
The First Minister will today publish a paper arguing that Brexit will cause huge damage to Scotland’s economy and that single market membership must be secured.
Yesterday she said she already knows the timing for considering a new demand for an independence referendum.
Her Brexit Minister also gave the strongest indication yet that the SNP could also back a second vote on EU membership.
On the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show Miss Sturgeon said: ‘Independence is the best future for Scotland. Whatever future Scotland chooses for itself, that is a future that shouldn’t be imposed on it.
‘People in Scotland want to see clarity emerge about the state of the relationship between the UK and EU. We will look at that and determine if Scotland should then have the right to choose between whatever that new relationship with the UK is going to be or choosing to be an independent country.’
Told that Theresa May has indicated that by early autumn there should be the ‘broad picture’ of how the Brexit deal will look, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘That is what I understand to be the case.’ Pressed on whether that means that this autumn she will confirm if there will be a second independence referendum, she said: ‘That is when I will make a judgment about the next steps for Scotland.’
After the June election results Miss Sturgeon admitted her referendum demand was a factor, then later said she had ‘reset’ her timetable for a second vote.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said: ‘After losing seats at Westminster, she gave the impression of listening and promised to “reset” her independence plans. That didn’t
‘Gave the impression of listening’
last long. With the turmoil of Brexit the last thing we need is the turmoil of independence too. The SNP should take independence off the table.’
Scottish Conservative MP John Lamont said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon has created a damaging distraction when her priority should be working with the UK Government to get the right deal for Scotland and the whole of the UK.’
The Scotland’s Place in Europe paper will analyse potential outcomes: staying in the single market and customs union, a free trade agreement or reverting to World Trade Organisation rules in the event of failing to secure a Brexit deal. It will conclude that all three outcomes will be damaging in comparison to being EU members, but that staying in the single market would be the ‘least damaging’ outcome.
Brexit Minister Michael Russell gave a strong indication that the SNP could back a second EU referendum on the final Brexit deal.
On the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland programme, Mr Russell said: ‘The First Minister is right to say that the people are important here. The people of Scotland will require to say something about this.
‘At some stage we are going to have to address those issues. There are questions to be answered about what would happen, for example, if Scotland continued to vote to remain and the rest of the UK continued to vote to leave.’
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