The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Nats ‘divisive and obsessive’
Theresa May has accused the SNP of being “divisive and obsessive” nationalists as the feud between the prime minister and the Scottish Government over a second independence referendum intensified.
Mrs May accused First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her party of being in a “muddle” about their plans and warned that breaking up the UK would be “bad for us all”.
Her intervention, at the Conservative spring forum in Cardiff, came as SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson insisted there was “no doubt” that a second referendum would take place, even though Mrs May has ruled out a vote on independence before Brexit has been finalised.
Downing Street dismissed the suggestion that the SNP could hold a legal referendum without the PM’s approval between autumn2018andspring2019, the timetable set out byMs Sturgeon. The countdown to Brexit will begin during the next two weeks when MrsMay triggersArticle 50, the formal mechanism for leaving the European Union, and she acknowledged the process could be “uncertain at times”.
Mrs May said: “At such moments, great national moments that define the character of a nation, we have a choice. We can look forward with optimism and hope. Or give in to the politics of fear and despair. I choose to believe in Britain and that our best days lie ahead.
“Because while the road before us may be uncertain at times, I believe, with the British people, that it leads towards a brighter future for our nation’s children and grandchildren.”
The prime minister accused theSNPof “tunnel vision” and seeking to exploit the vote to leave the European Union.
“The fact that more Scottish voters backed Scotland staying in the UK in 2014 than supported the UK staying in the EU in 2016, and that almost half a million independence supporters actually backed Brexit last year, seems to count for nothing.
“It isnowclear thatusing Brexit as the pretext to engineer a second independence referendum has been the SNP’s sole objective ever since last June.
“But it would be bad for Scotland, bad for the United Kingdom, and bad for us all.”
The Brexit negotiations would be “vital” for every citizen, business and community and required all parts of theUKworking together, she said.
“It is essential thatwe get the right deal, and that all of our efforts and energies as a country are focused on that outcome. We can only get that deal if we are united, as oneUnited Kingdom, all pulling together.”