Indy obsession will cost Sturgeon dear

IT was only ten months ago that Nicola Sturgeon made perhaps the biggest mistake of her leadership, demanding Scots should once again be asked to cast their votes on her lifelong mission of tearing up the Union.

Theresa May called the SNP leader’s bluff by rejecting her request. And when the Prime Minister called a snap General Election, voters gave their verdict as the Tories surged in Scotland while the Nationalists lost 21 seats and nearly half a million votes.

The signs back then were that Miss Sturgeon had learned a lesson. Apparently humbled, she admitted independence was ‘undoubtedly’ a factor in the backlash against her party, and told MSPs she would ‘reset’ her timetable for another vote.

Hardly surprisingly, that ‘reset’ didn’t last long. Yesterday, Miss Sturgeon declared that a decision on another independence referendum will be made at some point between October and the end of this year.

Today, she will launch a new paper, Scotland’s Place in Europe, which will attempt to stoke up grievance about Brexit.

It will be like turning the clock back to December 2016, when she launched a paper with an almost identical title demanding that Scotland remain in the European single market.

It will surprise no one if, as happened back then, she concludes that independence is the only option. As a lifelong Nationalist, it is always going to be her answer.

But demanding another vote could spark another backlash from voters who are fed up with falling standards in schools, crisis in the NHS and mismanagement of Scotland’s economy.

With Scots wanting the First Minister to get on with the day job, pushing for another referendum could ultimately cost the First Minister her own job in May 2021.