Sturgeon: I’ll turn next election into independence vote
SNP leader’s vow after judges bar referendum
NICOLA Sturgeon yesterday vowed to turn the next General Election into a referendum on Scottish independence after the Supreme Court threw out her latest bid to break up the UK.
Judges at the country’s highest court effectively killed off her plan to hold another poll on October 19 next year.
They said the Scottish Parliament ‘does not have the power to legislate for a referendum’. Miss Sturgeon said she was ‘ disappointed’ but brushed aside calls to end her ‘obsession’ with taking Scotland out of the UK.
‘As long as there is breath in my body, I refuse to give up on the basic principle of democracy,’ she said at a press conference following the court ruling.
Rishi Sunak last night welcomed the ruling, while Labour said it would not agree to a referendum either.
A spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘We will not be doing any deals with a party that wants to break up the United Kingdom. That is not our position.’
Scotland’s First Minister said a special SNP conference will be held in the new year ‘to discuss and agree the detail of a proposed de facto referendum’ using the next UK election. She said the SNP’s purpose ‘will be to establish – just as in a referendum – majority support in Scotland for independence so that we can then achieve independence.’
Downing Street called on Miss Sturgeon to finally ‘respect’ the result of the 2014 poll in which Scotland voted decisively to remain part of the UK. At the time, Miss Sturgeon said the vote was a ‘once in a generation’ event. But since then she has continued to agitate for another. Former prime minister Theresa May yesterday said the Supreme Court’s judgment ‘gives the Scottish nationalists, the SNP, the opportunity for once to put the people of Scotland first and end its obsession with breaking us apart’.
Welcoming the ‘clear and definitive’ ruling, Mr Sunak said: ‘The people of Scotland want us to be working on fixing the major challenges that we collectively face, whether that’s the economy, supporting the NHS or indeed supporting Ukraine.’
Miss Sturgeon had gambled on winning the court’s backing to hold a referendum without permission from Westminster. But the Supreme Court ruled it was clear that the devolution settlement left constitutional matters with the UK Government. Supreme Court president Lord Reed also rejected SNP suggestions that restrictions on the powers of Holyrood were so great that Scotland could qualify for the international right to self-determination.
He said previous international rulings on such matters had related to oppressed people or colonies. Referring to a Canadian Supreme Court decision, he said: ‘The court found that Quebec did not meet the threshold of a colonial people or an oppressed people, nor could it be suggested that Quebecers were denied meaningful access to government to pursue their political, economic, cultural and social development.
‘The same is true of Scotland and the people of Scotland.’
NICOLA Sturgeon responded to the Supreme Court slapping down her delusions of a fresh Scottish referendum with customary peevishnees.
Decrying the ruling as denying democracy, the SNP leader says the next general election will be a de facto independence vote.
Keir Starmer says he will rebuff any request for a border poll if he becomes PM. But can he be trusted? He has a readiness to say whatever will help him win power.
If the Tories want to avoid the disastrous breakup of the UK, they must get a grip.