‘Game is up for Union’ says Blackford as he renews call for referendum

The “game is up for the Union”, the SNP’S Westminster leader said, as he called for another Scottish independence referendum following his party’s victory in the local elections.

Ian Blackford added the SNP is not seeking Boris Johnson’s “permission” for Indyref2, as the only permission it would need is the “democratic permission of the Scottish people”.

He also called on the government to deal with the cost-of-living crisis by bringing forward an emergency budget following the agendasetting Queen’s Speech.

The Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP said the Conservatives had suffered a “democratic drubbing” in the local polls, adding it was the SNP’S 11th election victory in a row.

He told the Commons: “Democracy has spoken in Scotland, it has spoken before and it will speak again and again. And all our democratic decisions are saying exactly the same thing: Scotland rejects this Westminster Government, we reject the Tory party and we demand the choice of an independent future.

“The Scottish people know the cost of living with Westminster.

“We know the price we pay with the prime minister and the price of being stuck with a Tory government we didn’t vote for and it is price none of us in Scotland, not one of us, can afford to pay any longer.”

Intervening, West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine Tory MP Andrew Bowie said the SNP had not increased its vote share in eight years, adding that “the game is up” for the party.

Mr Blackford replied: “If the game is up for anybody, or any party, then the game is up for the Tory party and the game is up for the Union and I say to him that he needs to reflect on the fact that the SNP has won the last 11 elections as I said.”

Mr Blackford later added: “We are not seeking the prime minister’s permission.

“The only permission we need, the only permission we will ever need is the democratic permission of the Scottish people.

“And let’s not forget it’s the people of Scotland who hold sovereignty.”

In last week’s all-out local council polls, the SNP won the largest share of seats across Scotland’s 32 councils, with 453 councillors elected across the nation, compared with Labour’s 282 in second place and the Tories’ 214 in third.

The SNP also won a majority in one council, Dundee, though 27 Scottish local authorities remain in no overall control.

Elsewhere in the debate, Mr Blackford said that the government had been “so consumed by the crisis of partygate that they have failed to lift a finger to fight the Tory-made cost-ofliving crisis”.