Pro-independence party closing in on slim majority
The Scottish National Party (SNP), which has vowed to hold an independence referendum that could tear Britain apart should it be returned to power, was yesterday closing in on a slim majority in Scotland’s parliament.
The SNP said it would seek to hold a new secession vote if a pro-independence majority is returned to the devolved 129-seat parliament.
This would set up a clash with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who said he will refuse such a vote because Scots backed staying in Britain in 2014.
Initial results showed the SNP was on course to win a fourth consecutive term in office, having triumphed in 40 of the 49 seats declared as of yesterday afternoon.
But in some areas there was an increase in support for opposition pro-union parties, indicating the final outcome would be close. The results were expected to be announced overnight.
The electoral system – which allocates some seats on a proportional representation system that helps smaller parties – might see the SNP fail to win an outright majority, something First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the party leader, acknowledged.
“It would be good to do. But I have never taken that for granted and it has always been on a knife-edge,” she said.
There is likely to still be a pro-independence majority even if the SNP falls short because of the Green Party, which also supports secession. But supporters of the union argue that without an SNP majority, there is no mandate for a referendum.
The outcome of the election could therefore ultimately put Scotland on the path towards breaking its 314-year union with England and Wales. Scottish politics has been diverging from other parts of Britain, but Scots remain split over the prospect of another polarising independence vote.
Britain’s exit from the European Union – a move opposed by a majority of Scots – as well as a perception that Sturgeon’s government has handled the Covid-19 crisis well and antipathy to Johnson’s Conservative government in London, have all bolstered support for Scotland’s independence movement.