IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON
SNP must respect result of referendum, says Cameron, and focus on greater powers Sturgeon accuses critics of ‘fearing democracy’ as she tries to overturn historic poll result
NICOLA Sturgeon will today issue a rallying cry for independence by claiming Westminster has ‘disrespected the choice’ of voters – one year to the day since Scots crushed her dream of breaking up Britain.
The First Minister will tell David Cameron he is living on ‘borrowed time’ following the SNP’s landslide election victory in May and has bizarrely accused opponents of ‘fearing democracy’.
But the Prime Minister will also make a major intervention to mark the anniversary by telling the Nationalists to ‘move on’ and respect the resounding democratic verdict of the Scottish people.
A record- breaking 3.62million Scots flocked to polling stations on September 18, 2014, to reject separation by 55.3 per cent to 44.7 per cent, with the pro-UK campaign winning in an astonishing 28 of the country’s 32 local authorities.
In a pre-referendum promise to voters, Miss Sturgeon – and her predecessor Alex Salmond who resigned after the defeat – repeatedly said the result of the contest would stand for a ‘generation’.
Yet only 365 days later she now argues opinion polls prove support for independence is growing – and will use her next Holyrood manifesto to set out a possible time- table for a second referendum.
In one of her weakest performances at First Minister’s Questions yesterday, she was mocked after telling MSPs: ‘I cannot understand why anybody would have any problem whatsoever with having the issue driven by democracy.’
She was urged by opponents to ‘put the arguments of the past aside and focus on the future’.
As the country marks the referendum anniversary:
Mr Cameron will announce measures to make the Scottish parliament ‘permanent’ with only a referendum able to close its doors.
Alex Salmond claimed that Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘divided’ Labour Party will help push Scotland towards another referendum.
The Scottish Greens will launch plans for a separate Scots currency, splitting from the SNP policy to keep the UK pound.
Ukip will launch a campaign in Glasgow’s George Square for September 18 to be made ‘Union Day’.
Activists demanding a snap second referendum will march on Holyrood.
Miss Sturgeon will use the anniversary to make a speech in Edinburgh, surrounded by her MSPs and MPs. She will say: ‘Today, on the anniversary of the referendum and as we look forward to [the Holy- rood election] next May, people will inevitably ask about the possibility of another referendum.
‘As I have made clear, our manifesto will set out our position on a second independence referendum. It will consider the circumstances in which it might be appropriate, sometime in the future, to propose such a referendum.’
She will add: ‘Only the people can decide if we will have another referendum. Only the people can decide when that will be. And only the people can decide if Scotland will become independent.’
But she will argue that Tory policies at Westminster explain ‘what we now see happening in the polls’, with support for independence creeping above 45 per cent.
She will say her message to Mr Cameron is: ‘What happens to support for independence in the months and years to come will depend as much on what you do as it will on what we do.
‘And, right now, you are living on borrowed time. If you continue to ignore Scotland’s voice, if you continue to disrespect the choice that people across this country made in May, more and more people will conclude that Westminster simply can’t deliver for Scotland.’
But Mr Cameron will call on the SNP to focus on devolution, not separation.
He will say: ‘More Scots voted to keep our kingdom united than have ever voted for any party in any election in Scottish history.
‘They voted decisively for a powerful Scottish parliament within a strong and secure United Kingdom. We listened.’
The Edinburgh Agreement before last year’s referendum made the vote legally binding. Mr Cameron will say: ‘Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon and I signed the Edinburgh Agreement, which pledged we would all respect the outcome of last year’s momentous vote.
‘We all agreed, as do the Scottish public, the independence referendum should be a once-in-a-generation or a once-in-a-lifetime event. So now it’s time to move on.
‘Some may want to obsess about separation, but I am focused on delivering devolution so that the debate can move on from what powers the Scottish parliament should have, to how they are used to better the lives of the people of Scotland.’
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale will visit an Aberdeen nursery to mark the anniversary where she will say ‘we need to focus on the future rather than dwelling on the past’.
At First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson called on Miss Sturgeon to stop threatening a second referendum. She said: ‘The SNP is just scratching around trying to find any excuse to get the referendum rematch it so desperately wants.’
But Miss Sturgeon said: ‘We are starting to see quite clearly that the desperation of the Better Together parties to have a referendum ruled out indefinitely is not because they respect democracy but because, on this issue, they increasingly fear democracy.’