Sturgeon under fire for refusing to back down on independence

Leader wants other parties to compromise

Nicola Sturgeon has refused to back down on independence despite appealing to opponents for compromise on the Scottish Parliament’s future.

Ms Sturgeon was invited to park her referendum bid following her call for parties to come together to find agreement on the next step for Holyrood.

The First Minister stood by the position she set out in June to keep independence as an option during the course of this parliament, in which she said a referendum is “likely” before 2021.

Ms Sturgeon, who has abandoned her plan to hold a referendum before Brexit, was delivering a speech marking the 20th anniversary of Scotland’s decision to return a parliament to Edinburgh.

She said she wants to build a “new consensus in 2017 to match the spirit of 1997”. She called on parties to act as “equal partners, to win more powers for the Parliament and assert and protect its rights”.

In a press briefing after the speech, she was asked how she can build consensus if her plan is to hold a referendum regardless.

She said: “Why should other parties work with us? For the same reason that we should be prepared to work with other parties, because actually the national interest means we should put aside party interest.”

Scotttish Tory MP Paul Masterton said: “She cannot preach to others about consensus while she refuses to take the threat of another referendum off the table.”

The SNP leader put immigration at the heart of a bid to win new powers for Holyrood as she announced her government would publish a “series of evidence-based papers” on boosting the parliament’s authority.

Brexit is being used as a “power grab”, she added, in which devolved powers at EU level are retained at Westminster rather than Holyrood.

Picture: PA. Ms Sturgeon wants to keep independence as an option during the course of this parliament.