Sturgeon could demand split ‘on less than half the vote’

NICOLA STURGEON could demand independence if the SNP wins less than half the popular vote in Scotland in the next general election, her deputy has suggested.

John Swinney said Ms Sturgeon would have a mandate to start independence talks with the Prime Minister if the SNP won a majority of Scotland’s Westminster seats – 30 out of 59 – without a referendum being held.

But this raised the prospect of the First Minister arguing Scots had backed separation despite the SNP winning less than 50 per cent of the popular vote.

The SNP won 48 seats in the 2019 election on a 45 per cent share of the vote – the same level of support the defeated Yes campaign achieved in the 2014 referendum.

Mr Swinney’s intervention contradicted Ms Sturgeon, who told BBC Breakfast in an interview conducted at around the same time “Scotland can only become independent if a majority of people vote for that proposition”.

Mr Swinney later performed an about-turn and insisted 50 per cent support would be required, claiming he had misheard the question.

But his flip-flopping prompted Unionist parties to claim that “the wheels are falling off the clown car” less than 24 hours after Ms Sturgeon unveiled her separation route-map.

Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said she was “desperate” to stage another vote after failing in her day job of delivering improvements to Scotland’s schools and NHS.

Ms Sturgeon has said her back-up plan if denied a referendum is to fight the next general election on the issue of independence. But James Mitchell, professor of public policy at Edinburgh University, said “there’s no such thing as a de facto referendum” and pointed out parties cannot dictate to voters what issues they consider when casting their ballots in a general election.