‘Now not the time’ for another indy vote
Strath councillor highlights concerns after election
A Strath councllor has revealed he believes “now is not the time” for an independence vote.
Strathallan SNP representative Tom Gray made the admission following the results of last week’s Scottish Parliament elections.
His thoughts came after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told Prime Minister Boris Johnson it was a matter of when, not if, another vote on the union takes place.
And both Perthshire SNP MSPs John Swinney and Jim Fairlie immediately spoke of their commitment to supporting another poll on Scotland’s future in the UK after they were elected.
But Cllr Gray has voiced concerns about rushing into a referendum and his worries are not solely because of the pandemic.
He said there were “three things of concern following Thursday’s election,” in terms of a new vote.
“Firstly it was an election to gain representation in the Scottish Parliament to establish policies in Scotland’s best interests,” he said.
“By engaging unionist members of Westminster- based parties is not in Scotland’s interest, yet, as results revealed, we clearly witnessed tactical voting at play throughout Friday and Saturday, thereby gaining more representation from unionists than was merited.”
He added: “The second point of concern is that the actual support for independence can only be gauged by considering the actual number of individuals who voted with their first vote for independence or unionist parties.
“This leaves me with the conclusion that
– much as I sincerely wish it were – now is not the time, irrespective of clearing up the pandemic etc, but purely because support is far from conclusive at circa 50 per cent despite high SNP number of seat representation.”
Cllr Gray has also called for a truce between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.
He said: “The third point is that whatever the rift between both formidable leaders, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, the wound must be healed or division within the independence movement will emanate and opportunity shall be forced further into the future.”
Cllr Gray was speaking after the SNP comfortably won the election.
Despite the SNP falling short of a majority, eight Green MSPs mean there is likely to be a pro-independence majority.