Scottish government to push for referendum

SNP will go forward with fresh vote on independence despite not winning a majority

The Scottish National Party has won its fourth straight parliamentary election and insisted it would push on with another referendum on Scotland’s independence from Britain even though it failed to secure a majority.

Final results showed the SNP winning 64 of the 129 seats in the Edinburgh-based Scottish Parliament.

Other results from an array of elections across Britain saw Labour’s Sadiq Khan re-elected mayor of London.

Khan, who became the first Muslim to head a major Western capital after his victory in 2016, saw off his main challenger, Shaun Bailey, the candidate from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party.

“I am deeply humbled by the trust Londoners have placed in me to continue leading the greatest city on Earth,” Khan said.

“I promise to strain every sinew to help build a better and brighter future for London after the dark days of the pandemic,” he said.

But the vote with the biggest implications was the Scottish election, as it could pave the way for the break-up of Britain. The devolved government has an array of powers but many economic and security matters remain within the ambit of the government in London.

Though the SNP won the vast majority of constituencies, it failed to get the 65 seats it would need to have a majority as Scotland allocates some by a form of proportional representation. Though falling short, the SNP will be easily able to govern for the five-year parliamentary term with the eight members of the Scottish Greens, who also back independence.

SNP leader and Scottish Fire Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the legitimacy of an independence referendum remained, SNP majority or not. “This is now a matter of fundamental democratic principle,” she said. “It is the will of the country.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the leader of the Conservative Party, would have the ultimate authority whether to permit another referendum. Johnson appears intent on resisting another vote.

The prime minister wrote in The Daily Telegraph newspaper published on Saturday that another referendum would be “irresponsible and reckless” in the “current context” as Britain emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic.

He has consistently argued that the issue was settled in a September 2014 referendum, when 55 per cent of Scottish voters favoured remaining part of Britain.

Sturgeon said it would be wrong for Johnson to stand in the way of a referendum and that the timing was a matter for the Scottish Parliament.