Sturgeon vows to update on indyref amid clamour for quickfire vote
●First Minister to make a statement on referendum plans after Easter
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon last night pledged to make a statement on her plans for a second independence referendum following Holyrood’s Easter recess, as she faced growing demands from senior party members for a quickfire vote this year.
Chris Mceleny, a member of the party’s ruling National Executive, said the 31 October Brexit extension meant a vote could be staged in September, while Western Isles MP Angus Macneil warned against “kicking the can” down the road on the issue.
But the First Minister urged caution among “impatient” Nationalists, with a warning that they must convince a majority of people in Scotland – not just SNP supporters – of the case for independence.
Polling evidence suggests that most Scots would vote to remain in the UK and don’t want another referendum in the next five years.
Opponents accused Ms Sturgeon of an “obsession” with independence and claimed she had used the entire Brexit issue to agitate for another referendum.
The First Minister has been pledging to set out her plans on a second vote on leaving the UK for months, but hinted yesterday that she would have made a statement to MSPS if Parliament had been recalled this week in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
She said in a radio interview: “Had Parliament been recalled today I would have had the opportunity to make a statement in general about the implications in general of Brexit.
“So after the recess I will take stock with the Scottish Parliament of the implications of last night’s developments, what they mean for Scotland in the short term, how the Scottish Parliament can best influence and
hopefully help to stop Brexit in it’s tracks and of course what it means for Scotland in the longer term.”
The SNP leader said she understood the “impatience “of supporters who believe the “best option for Scotland is to be independent”.
Of EU nations “deciding the UK’S future” at this week’s summit in Brussels which agreed the Brexit extension, a dozen had populations similar to or smaller than Scotland, Ms Sturgeon said.
“And yet Scotland is completely sidelined by Westminster in this whole process.
“So ironically, Brexit, which was all about taking back control for Westminster, has actually highlighted how much power and influence small countries have within the EU. So the case for independence is stronger than it’s ever been.
“But we need to do things in the right time in the right way because we’ve got to convince to not just a majority of SNP, but a majority of the people of Scotland, that independence is the best future.”
Mr Mceleny called on his party to campaign “with everything we have” to deliver an independence referendum before 31 October.
Mr Mceleny said yesterday: “People in Scotland should be given the opportunity to voice their preference on the future they want for Scotland.
“Before the UK leaves the EU it is now time to press with everything we have to give people the opportunity to decide if they want Scotland’s future relationship with the EU decided for them or if they want to take that decision into their own hands by deciding that Scotland should become an independent country. An independence referendum in
September of this year would give us that opportunity.”
A key stumbling block to a second referendum would be Prime Minister Theresa May’s refusal to grant a Section 30 order to allow Holyrood to legislate on such a vote.
The SNP is already building its case for a new independence campaign after 2014. Its recent Sustainable Growth Commission revamped the economic argument, and the party will seek to change policy later this month at party conference to adopt a separate Scottish currency after a
Yes vote, in line with the Commission’s recommendations.
Mr Macneil said yesterday that the SNP should not be “kicking the indyref2 can” down the road.
“The #Brexit can has been kicked down the road again … we cannot follow suit by kicking the #indyref2 can behind it,” he said on social media.
He later said a campaign and plans to hold a referendum should be under way.
But Scottish Conservative chief whip Maurice Golden said: “Nicola Sturgeon is putting her obsession with a
second independence referendum above all else. There is no longer any doubt that the SNP’S only goal throughout the entire Brexit process has been to push for indyref2.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: “Brexit or no Brexit, the SNP will always put independence first. The SNP should be working with us to deliver a People’s Vote and an end to the constitutional strife that is dividing the UK, not kicking off more chaos of their own making.”
“We’ve got to convince to not just a majority of SNP, but a majority of the people of Scotland, that independence is the best future” NICOLA STURGEON