Sturgeon criticised over Covid
First Minister Ni cola Sturgeon has been accused by a former Supreme Court judge of “chopping and changing” over her approach to tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
Lord Sump ti on also claimed that the Scottish Government' s policy on Covid-19 restrictions is driven in par t by a desire to follow a different plan to elsewhere in the United Kingdom.
“She is beginning to veer into the chop ping and changing, pillar-and-postery in the last few weeks,” he said about Ms Sturgeon.
By a margin of almost two to one, people in Scotland support holding a second referendum if pro-independence MSPS win a majority at Holyrood, a new poll has revealed.
The survey asked people whether, if more than half the MSPS came from independence-supporting parties such as the SNP and the Scottish Greens, this would constitute a mandate for another referendum to be held.
Almost half of people asked (49 per cent) were of the view that this would be the case, with 27 per cent saying they agreed strongly with this and another 22 percent saying they would “somewhat agree”.
Just over a quarter (27 per cent) were opposed to this, even if Holy rood returns a majority of pro-independence MSPS in May, with 17 per cent of those questioned strongly disagreeing with a second referendum in such circumstances, while 10 per cent said they disagreed somewhat.
When those who did not know (9 per cent) and those who neither agreed or disagreed (16 percent) were removed, the poll found 54 per cent agreed there would be a mandate for a second referendum, while 30 per cent disagreed.
The research was par t of a poll by Sur vation, which put support for Scottish in dependence at 54 per cent.
It comes as Scottish Sec retar y Alister Jack dismissed the prospect of having a second vote on whether the country should stay in the UK.
With SNP leaders having previously described the 2014 ballot as a “once in a generation” event, the Scottish Conservative MP suggested a generation could be “25 or 40 years”. He added: “I don’t think we should keep having referendums until they get their own way, it should respect the outcome of the one we had.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon responded by tweeting “politicians who rage against democracy don’t prevail”.
Campaign consultant James Mackenzie, who commissioned the research, said: “Anyone who wants Scotland to get a second chance to vote on independence should vote for SNP or Green MSPS next May. By almost two to one, the Scottish public don’t buy the cynical chat from some quarters that only an SNP-only majority would count as a mandate, nor do they accept Boris Johnson’s anti-democratic line that we shouldn't be allowed to vote again.”
Mr Mackenzie, a former head of media for Scottish Green MSPs, added :“It’ s unclear how anyone will make the case for the Union next time with a straight face, which is pre - sumably why the Prime Minister would rather we don’t get the chance. Whether it’s about responding to the pandemic or climate change, the semi-feudal Westminster system has repeatedly proved utterly unfit for the 21st century.”
The SNP’ s depute leader Keith Brown said :“A clear and overwhelming majority of voters believe that Scotland should have the right to decide our own future … The pressure on Boris Johnson to respect the democratic rights of voters in Scotland is now immense. We didn’t vote for this Tory Brexit, and wec erta inly didn’ t vote for Boris Johnson. They have no right to decide Scotland’s future for us.”