Not time for indyref2 says SNP councillor
A Perth and Kinross SNP councillor has revealed he believes“now is not the time”for an independence vote.
Strathallan representative Tom Gray made the admission following the results of last week’s Scottish Parliament elections.
His thoughts came after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told Prime Minister Boris Johnson it was a matter of when, not if, for indyref2.
And both Perthshire SNP MSPs John Swinney and Jim Fairlie immediately spoke of their commitment to supporting another poll on Scotland’s future in the UK after they were elected.
But Cllr Gray has voiced concern about rushing into a referendum and his worries are not related to the pandemic.
He said there were “three things of concern following Thursday’s election,” in terms of a new vote.
“Firstly it was an election to gain representation in the Scottish Parliament to establish policies in Scotland’s best interests,” he said.
“Engaging unionist members of Westminster-based parties is not in Scotland’s interest, yet, as results revealed, we clearly witnessed tactical voting at play throughout Friday and Saturday, thereby gaining more representation from unionists than was merited.”
He added: “The second point of concern is that the actual support for independence can only be gauged by considering the actual number of individuals who voted with their first vote for independence or unionist parties.
“This leaves me with the conclusion that - much as I sincerely wish it were - now is not the time irrespective of clearing up the pandemic etc but purely because support is far from conclusive at circa 50 per cent despite high SNP number of seat representation.”
Cllr Gray has also called for a truce between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.
He said: “The third point is that whatever the rift between both formidable leaders, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, the wound must be healed or division within the independence movement will emanate and opportunity shall be forced further into the future.”
Cllr Gray was speaking after the SNP comfortably won the Scottish election. Despite falling short of a majority, eight Green MSPs who are likely to back another vote were elected meaning there is a pro-independence majority at Holyrood.
However, in terms of total votes, unionist parties won over just 50 per cent of the constituency vote while pro-independence parties won just over half of the list votes.
The results prompted polling guru Professor John Curtice to say: “In truth, the only safe conclusion one can draw from these results is that Scotland is indeed divided down the middle on the constitutional question.”