Sturgeon swift to deny referendum pledge claim
NICOLA Sturgeon has expressed surprise at reports the SNP’s election manifesto will not include a clear commitment to hold a second independence referendum.
The First Minister reacted swiftly to deny a Sunday Herald report which claimed the party would be non-committal on another poll on the issue unless there was clear evidence most voters backed independence.
She wrote on Twitter: “News to me! Manifesto not finalised yet.”
In October last year, Ms Sturgeon argued at the SNP conference it would be wrong to propose a new vote without strong and consistent evidence that significant numbers of No voters had changed their minds.
It was taken to mean that opinion polls had to show at least 60 per cent support for a year to ensure a strong chance of winning the vote.
Earlier, Jim Sillars, the former deputy leader of the SNP, expressed alarm at the claim that a clear commitment to a second referendum would not be included in the manifesto for the May 5 poll.
He argued such a move would mean the UK Government would be under no obligation to grant Holyrood the power to stage a second poll.
Labour’s Scottish MP Ian Murray said the referendum was a “UK membership and a UK vote”.
He said he could not see how a second independence referendum, in the event of a vote to exit Europe in the EU referendum could be justified.
Mr Murray added: “The bottom line in terms of all of these issues with regards to referenda and independence is that the economic case for independence is worse now than it was last year.”