The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Sturgeon refuses to rule out
Option for SNP if referendum blocked
TheSNPmayhave to resort to a referendum without a “bullet-proof legal basis” if Theresa May refuses to allow a fresh vote on independence, a north-east MP has said.
Nicola Sturgeon repeatedly declined to discuss any “Plan B” yesterday – saying only that “various options” were available.
The first minister will use her speech to the party’s spring conference in Aberdeen today to offer an olivebranchtoWestminster over the timing of a vote.
She will say she is “happy to have that discussion” after the prime minister ruled out her bid for a poll in late 2018 or early 2019.
But she refused 10 times yesterday to rule out holding a consultative ballot if Downing Street’s position holds firm even if the move gets Scottish Parliament approval on Wednesday.
MSPs will vote to request a section 30 order from the UK Government, required to hold a referendum under the binding rules followed in 2014.
Aberdeen South MP Callum McCaig said “nothing can be entirely ruled out” if that is blocked – including the use of a non-binding consultative vote.
Asked about that prospect, the SNP MP told the Press and Journal: “There will be no talk of unilateral declarations of independence. It is clear the government’s preference is for an agreement to be reached between Holyrood and Westminster – a bullet-proof legal basis for a referendum.
“But we are in entirely uncharted territory here. If the UK Government rejects a request from the Scottish Parliament on the basis of a manifesto commitment
“The SNP’s only reason to exist is to rip Scotland out of the UK”
thatwasendorsedbyrecord numbers of people only a year ago, then we are into very uncertain territory.
“Could that happen? I hope it doesn’t come to that. I think that at this stage nothing can be entirely ruled out.
In a TV interview yesterdayMs Sturgeon said: “Just because the prime minister has said No does not mean I immediately scurry off and say ‘well, that’s that’.”
A leading academic suggested Westminster could still have to negotiate with the Scottish Government even if it stages a consultative referendum. This is a non-binding vote to decide whether the will of the people makes it worthwhile legislating for another, more legally sound, vote.
Scottish Tories say a consultative vote would make Scotland “the laughing stock of the world”.
Deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: “The SNP’s onlyreasonfor existing is to rip Scotland out of the UK. That’s why the party refuses to rule out any means of achieving this, including a nonsense Catalan castanets consultative referendum.”
Meanwhile, Mrs May accused the SNP of being “divisive and obsessive” at the Tory spring forum in Cardiff. She said: “It is now clear that using Brexit as the pretext to engineer a second independence referendum has been the SNP’s sole objective since last June.”