No cash for second referendum

No money has been allocated to hold a second independence referendum this year, the Scottish Government budget for 2020-21 reveals.

The budget outlines preparations for a second independence referendum as one of the Scottish Government’s “priorities” for 2020-21.

But it fails to commit cash to such an endeavour despite Nicola Sturgeon’s insistence she still wants to hold one this year in a keynote speech in Edinburgh last week.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to give Holyrood the power to hold a second referendum.

The budget states “detailed information” will be developed and shared on the case for independence, adding that the government will “continue to prepare for a referendum” but stops short of setting aside the cash required.

The cost of staging the independence referendum in 2014 amounted to just over £15.8 million.

The figures show of the total £16.1m budget for Government Business and Constitutional Relations, just £25,000 has been earmarked to implement the Referendums (Scotland) Act 2020.

The budget states the cash will be spent on supporting the “provision of guidance” to implement the legislation.

In December, the Referendums (Scotland) Bill, which seeks to lay out a framework for how future votes in Scotland are carried out, was passed by MSPs.

In the chamber, Willie Rennie, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, asked Kate Forbes if the government’s budget for the forthcoming financial year “allowed any spending on independence”.

Ms Forbes, who delivered the budget, said: “I sometimes worry that the Liberal Democrats are more obsessed with independence than I am.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Referendums (Scotland) Act puts duties on certain electoral bodies to produce guidance for administrators and campaigners at referendums.

“The funding set out in the budget is for the preparation of this guidance.”

I sometimes worry that the Liberal Democrats are more obsessed with independence than I am. KATE FORBES