Indyref2? It’ll NOT be this year, admits Sturgeon’s ex-deputy
NICOLA Sturgeon’s dream of another independence referendum this year is now in tatters, a senior Nationalist has admitted.
Angus Robertson, her former SNP deputy leader, said ‘the reality’ is that there will be no separation vote before the 2021 Holyrood elections. He is the first senior figure to break ranks and admit the First Minister’s timetable is unachievable.
Ms Sturgeon has long insisted another referendum should be held by the end of 2020. Late last year, she put that request in writing in a letter to Boris Johnson.
However, in his reply last week, the Prime Minister insisted that the SNP keep its ‘once in a generation’ promise, and not ‘continue the political stagnation that Scotland has seen for the last decade’.
Ms Sturgeon hit back saying ‘democracy will prevail’. And in a radio interview, Mike Russell,
Brexit Secretary, said: ‘I think a referendum this year is the right thing to do. I intend to deliver it.’
However, both the Scottish and UK Governments need to agree to holding a vote, with a Section 30 order required to make it legal – and time is running out.
Yesterday, Mr Robertson, who is widely expected to stand as a candidate in 2021, having lost his Westminster seat in 2017, called for a rethink. Writing in The
National newspaper, Mr Robertson said: ‘Hard as it is to endure, given the repeated electoral mandates for an independence referendum, the reality is that the issue of Indyref2 will be decided in the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections.
‘With a majority of pro-independence MSPs, it will be impossible to oppose Scottish democracy. That makes the 2021 elections the most important Scottish parliament vote ever. Put simply, the challenge to return a pro-independence majority of MSPs is the key to Scotland’s future.’
Last night, Scottish Tories called on Ms Sturgeon to drop the pretence that there could be a referendum this year.
Adam Tomkins, Scottish Conservatives constitution spokesman, said: ‘Angus Robertson is saying what everyone, including Nicola Sturgeon and Mike Russell, knows. The First Minister’s pretence that there will be a referendum this year is simply political opportunism. The problem is that Sturgeon’s self-interested strategy continues to create confusion when voters are craving certainty.’
An SNP spokesman said: ‘The SNP Scottish Government will set out its response and next steps to the Prime Minister’s letter later this month when it will also ask the Scottish Parliament to again endorse Scotland’s right to choose.
‘It is the SNP’s position that a referendum should be held before the end of 2020 but the precise timing will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament to decide.’
Meanwhile, a new poll shows Labour members would back an independence referendum if it helped the party into power.
Just 16 per cent were opposed to a second referendum, according to a YouGov poll for the Times, with 33 per cent supportive, and a further 44 per cent willing to consider it as part of a coalition deal with the SNP.
Support for a second referendum was highest among those backing Labour candidate Rebecca LongBailey, with opposition highest among supporters of challengers Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy.
‘First Minister’s pretence is political opportunism’