Red line on another independence vote
Murphy calls for six-year ban on referendum
LABOUR last night put a six-year ‘moratorium’ on another independence referendum at the heart of its struggling election campaign as Nicola Sturgeon refused to rule out a fresh constitutional battle.
In a desperate attempt to persuade pro-Union supporters to stop an SNP landslide on Thursday, Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy used a live TV debate to challenge the First Minister to put separation on hold.
The debate came as a new poll shows only 36 per cent of Scots want another referendum within the next decade.
But Miss Sturgeon said she – and not her party’s 110,000 members – would decide whether or not to include plans for a second referendum in next year’s Holyrood manifesto, despite promising voters that last September’s contest would settle the issue for at least 15 years.
Having said an in/out referendum on EU membership could be the catalyst for another attempt at independence, the First Minister refused to say if the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system could also be a trigger.
The exchanges came in a bad-tempered final TV debate of the campaign on BBC1, featuring Mr Murphy, Miss Sturgeon, Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson and Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie.
At the Mansfield Traquair Centre in Edinburgh, Mr Murphy said to Miss Sturgeon: ‘You previously said the referendum was once-in-a-generation. Surely we can just agree, between the Labour Party, the SNP and the people of Scotland, we should have a moratorium on another referendum, for the next five or six years at least?’
Miss Davidson also challenged her to ‘rule it out’.
But Miss Sturgeon refused to do so, claiming: ‘ This election is nothing about independence.’
Asked who would decide if a second referendum is included in her 2016 manifesto, the SNP leader said: ‘We debate things, but the party leader signs off the manifesto.’
Pressed by Mr Rennie on whether renewing Trident would be a trigger for a second contest, she said: ‘I’m not going to give a list because I can’t see into the future.’
Mr Rennie said after the debate: ‘The renewal of Trident is due to be decided early in the new parliament. It is now clear Nicola Sturgeon is plotting a second referendum on the back of that decision.’
There was also a clash between Mr Murphy and Miss Davidson on benefit sanctions for jobseekers. A crackdown on claimants, introduced in 2012, has led to nearly 300,000 ‘sanctions’ north of the Border for failing to do enough to find a job.
Mr Murphy said there is a ‘deliberate policy’ under the Conservatives to sanction benefit claimants, no matter what they do.
But Miss Davidson accused him of being a liar and ‘ peddling a falsehood that he knows is fictitious’.
In another clash, Miss Sturgeon dismissed claims from economic experts that SNP plans would actually lead to deeper spending cuts than those put forward by Labour.
Indeed, she threatened to vote down Mr Miliband’s first Budget unless he agrees to cancel austerity
‘I can’t see into the future’
and start a spending spree. She said: ‘I know Ed Miliband wants to cling to the pretence that he’s going to win a majority – but the polls say he’s not and if he ends up in the position of being in a minority government then he simply cannot continue to say he’s not going to talk to anybody, because that means his own government would be paralysed and he will not want that to happen.’
Later in the debate, the First Minister was branded a ‘hypocrite’ by an audience member for scrapping ‘right-to-buy’ in Scotland after the Scottish Daily Mail revealed her parents bought their council house for £8,000 under the system in 1984. But much of the debate focused on the prospect of a second independence referendum.
A new YouGov poll found only 36 per cent of Scots support another referendum within the next ten years, even though support for separation is running at 47 per cent.
On BBC1’ s Sunday Politics, Labour frontbencher Chris Leslie said that, if in government, his party would not agree to a second referendum in the next five years. Constitutional referendums remain reserved to Westminster. He added: ‘There is not a way in which we would want to see that repetitious repeating of something that’s been decided for a generation.’
But Miss Davidson has said a precedent has been set and the UK Government would be unable to stand in the way of another contest if the SNP includes it in a Holyrood manifesto and wins a majority.
John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, said: ‘It appears that as a result of this campaign voters are increasingly coming to the view that a second referendum will be held sooner rather than later – even though at the same time support for holding an early referendum has fallen.’
Following the debate, Scottish Labour deputy leader Kezia Dugdale said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon wouldn’t even rule out a referendum in the next five or six years. The choice is now clear – a road to a fairer nation with Labour or the road to another referendum with the SNP.’
David Cameron yesterday urged pro-Union Scots to back his party.
He said: ‘If people are fearful about the future of the Union, the Scottish Conservatives are the party which stands up for you.
‘Unlike Labour, we will do no deals with a party that wants to break up our United Kingdom.’
The Scottish leaders’ debate on BBC1 l ast night was no grandstanding Mayweather v Pacquiao bout. Instead, Ruth Davidson, Jim Murphy and Willie Rennie looked tired after a punishing campaigning schedule. even Nicola Sturgeon, clattering around the country aboard a luxury helicopter, looked like she felt this was a debate too far.
There were tetchy exchanges too, as the four leaders seemed keener to spar while resting on the ropes than to try to land any truly telling blows.
It was clear, though, that the SNP – convinced it will be sending a veritable army of MPs to Westminster – is still fixated on independence and referendums.
It was equally clear that the audience wanted answers on day-to- day matters such as spending, borrowing, housing and education – the detailed areas that impact f amilies directly and on which the separatists are at their weakest.
Scottish Tory leader Miss Davidson pointed out that there is more to Scotland than the SNP, a key fact often lost amid the sound and fury the minority separatists generate, and urged support for parties who will have no truck with the agenda of breaking up the UK.
She also urged the public to vote on Thursday for who and what they believe in and to leave the polling booth with head held high.
No matter your politics, that’s surely one thing we can all agree on.