PM rejects new independence vote and warns SNP over Brexit

DAVID Cameron yesterday told Nicola Sturgeon he has ‘no intention’ of allowing a second referendum on Scottish independence while he is in office.

In an exclusive interview with the Scottish Daily Mail, the Prime Minister said Scots had ‘emphatically’ answered the independence question in 2014.

Mr Cameron also revealed the ongoing battle against Scottish independence occupies his ‘head, heart and soul’ more than his fight to keep Britain in the EU.

But he resorted to scare tactics ahead of the forthcoming referendum on EU membership as he addressed delegates at the Scottish Conservative conference in Edinburgh yesterday, warning of the ‘risk’ to Scotland from a Brexit vote. He claimed 250,000 jobs north of the Border are ‘linked to that ability to trade with Europe’.

The Tory leader attempted to drag patriotism into the debate, insisting that supporting membership of the EU – and Scotland’s place in the UK – ‘doesn’t make you less of a Scot’.

He recalled the comments of Alex Salmond and his then deputy Nicola Sturgeon in 2014, when both promised that the result of the independence referendum would stand for ‘a generation’.

Mr Cameron told the Mail: ‘I believe what Alex Salmond said… and it was an emphatic result. As far as I’m concerned, now we need to get on with delivering the devolution – which we’ve done – delivering the strong economy, delivering the strong defence and settling the United Kingdom’s place in Europe. These are the big challenges.

‘I think Ruth [Davidson] is absolutely right to put front and centre in her campaign: if you

‘The question was asked and answered’

don’t want a second referendum, the best way to send a message to the Scottish Government is to vote for Ruth and the Scottish Conservatives.

‘Huge numbers of people in Scotland don’t want a second referendum, they want to end the uncertainty.

‘I have absolutely no intention [of holding a second referendum]. We’ve had a referendum and, as far as I’m concerned, the question was asked, the question was answered.’

The constitution remains reserved to Westminster. Holyrood was only given temporary powers to hold the 2014 vote – a deal that has now expired.

The Prime Minister also made clear his different attitude towards the two constitutional questions that will define his premiership.

‘The issue of keeping our United Kingdom together is something to me that is head, heart and soul,’ he said.

‘The issue of Europe I feel very, very strongly about, but I come at it as someone rational, practical, what’s best for us. I don’t love Brussels, I don’t love the institutions of the European Union. There’s much that’s imperfect about the European Union.

‘I’ve improved it with the deal we negotiated but to me this is a hardheaded assessment of how we are stronger, safer and better off. We’re definitely stronger, safer and better off in a reformed European Union. But I love the United Kingdom. I do not love the European Union.’

Mr Cameron said he would ‘continue to make the case for the United Kingdom and also make sure that Scotland’s two governments need to work together’.

Asked if r el ati onships had i mproved since Miss Sturgeon replaced Mr Salmond, he replied: ‘I’ve never had a problem having a relationship with either of them. The question is more for my predecessor [Gordon Brown] actually. I think that’s the comparison.

‘I said, before becoming Prime Minister, it’s very important to have a strong, respectful relationship between the UK Government and all the devolved governments – and I’ve tried to do that in Northern Ireland, in Wales and in Scotland.

‘Look at the [Scotland Bill] fiscal framework: that is a really good example of a complex negotiation with a very good outcome for Scotland and the United Kingdom.’

In his speech to around 600 delegates at Murrayfield Stadium, Mr Cameron insisted the Tories are now ‘the only party of the Union’.

He said: For the SNP, it’s still independence or nothing – despite us settling the matter for a generation. And now we’ve got Labour – and the Lib Dems – saying their politicians can campaign either way if a second referendum should ever take place, effectively abandoning their support for the Union.

‘For Scotland, this is huge. It leaves just one party – the Conservatives – and one person – Ruth – to speak up for the two million people who voted No in that referendum.’

The Prime Minister also spoke of his desire for a ‘Remain’ vote in June’s EU referendum, surprising many who had expected him to avoid the issue on a rare visit north of the Border. He said: ‘ With the world wanting to drink its whisky, eat its salmon, wear its wool, buy its electronics and use its financial services, Scotland relies on the door to the single market being wide open.

‘There are 250,000 jobs, spanning so many Scottish sectors, that are linked to that ability to trade with Europe. But let’s just look at one: food. Today, Scottish farmers can sell their meat without quotas, without tariffs, to a market of 500million people. But if Britain leaves, that could all change.

‘A trade deal – like the one Canada has agreed with the EU – could involve tariffs and quotas on our exports. And if we have to fall back on the basic rules for global trade, that could mean tariffs as high as 13 per cent on Scottish salmon, 40 per cent on lamb and up to 70 per cent on some beef products.

‘After we’ve won in Holyrood in 62 days, we all need to make that case for certainty, for the good of everyone in this great nation.’

Earlier, Eurosceptic MP Liam Fox told a conference fringe event there were ‘huge risks’ to staying in the EU.

‘I think the Remain campaign increasingly looks like the elite, the establishment,’ he said. ‘It is funded by Goldman Sachs, supported by the European Commission and by a number of organisations who have been well funded themselves by European money.

‘It seems to me a better way of characterising it for the Leave campaign. It has something of a peasants’ revolt about it and it is coming up from the grassroots of the country. People are saying we don’t want to be told that the issues of migration and taxation are irrelevant.’

Jayne Adye, director of Get Britain Out, said: ‘It is unfortunate to see David Cameron engaging in even more scaremongering in Scotland, suggesting Scottish farmers are going to be worse off in the event of Brexit.

‘He has ignored the key facts, which indicate the EU is a market of declining importance to Scottish businesses, which are increasingly trading with the wider world. Leaving the EU will enable the UK to do trade deals with global expanding markets, which will provide far greater security and opportunities for Scotland to sell its fantastic products.’

‘He has ignored the key facts’