SNP VOWS TO HOLD ‘ILLEGAL’ INDYREF
Party’s ‘reckless’ plan to push ahead with wildcat vote ...but YOU will have to foot the huge bill for it
Sturgeon is preparing to push ahead with an ‘illegal’ referendum in a desperate new attempt to break up the Union.
The SNP has unveiled an 11-point ‘road map’ to independence, including a wildcat vote carried out without the backing of the UK Government.
Last night opponents described the plans as ‘reckless’ and ‘crass’ at a time when thousands of lives are being lost to the coronavirus pandemic.
The proposals, which include a ‘campaign of information and education on independence’, are to be discussed today during a virtual SNP National Assembly.
They state that if a pro-independence majority of SNP and Scottish Green MSPs is returned in the Holyrood elections in May, the First Minister would immediately demand that Boris Johnson agree to a new Section 30 order, paving the way for a second independence referendum.
The Prime Minister has made it clear he would refuse such a request.
In the road map, the SNP claims an unsanctioned referendum would force the UK Government to either ratify it – by making a Section 30 order or by handing control of referendum rules to Holyrood – or take the Scottish Government to court to try to stop it. A pro-independence campaigner was at the Court of Session last week, arguing that Holyrood has the power to hold another referendum – which both Scottish and UK Governments have opposed – and a result is expected in days. However, Westminster sources yesterday said another option would be open to the UK Government – to ignore the illegal referendum, rendering it ‘meaningless’ and a waste of taxpayers’ money. The SNP plan also raises questions over whether councils would agree to count ballots of a vote with no legal basis, and whether international institutions, such as the EU, would recognise the result. A UK Government source said: ‘It would not be a legitimate referendum. Our position is very clear – the constitution is a reserved matter. It would be meaningless. It would be like a giant, self-selecting poll unless both sides engaged with it and campaigned on it.’
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said: ‘This is a reckless move when the top priority of the Scottish Government has to be delivering the Covid vaccine.
‘Most Scots will wonder why time, energy and resources are going into pursuing an illegal referendum when we face bigger challenges.’
Scottish Labour interim leader Jackie Baillie said: ‘It is inexcusable that the SNP seeks to put its plan for independence above everything else at this time of crisis.’
Scots Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said the plan was ‘crass and the wrong priority for our country’.
Professor Michael Keating, an expert in politics at Aberdeen University, said: ‘The question for the Unionist side is, do they boycott it and how far is the SNP prepared to push this to a confrontation?’
But Constitution Secretary Michael Russell said: ‘People in Scotland have the right to decide their future, not Boris Johnson.
‘The pandemic is the overriding priority at present but when that subsides the people of Scotland must have the right to decide how best to rebuild.’
Last night, a Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times found 52 per cent of Scots back independence – but only 22 per cent said Scotland would be financially better off after separation.