Nicola’s ‘undemocratic’ plot for new referendum
NICOLA Sturgeon was last night accused of plotting an ‘undemocratic’ move to hold a second independence referendum as soon as polls suggest she can win it.
She was subjected to a bruising TV interview with veteran BBC presenter Gordon Brewer, in which she struggled to explain the SNP’s position on another vote on separation.
Asked if there would definitely be another contest if Britain votes to leave the EU and Scotland opts to stay, the First Minister admitted: ‘It would depend on circumstances, on the narrowness of the results overall.’
Last night, Tory leader Ruth Davidson said: ‘Democracy doesn’t work like that.’
Meanwhile, Labour leader Kezia Dugdale made a desperate bid to distance herself from her claim she could back independence if the UK leaves the EU.
In an embarrassing U-turn, she told the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland she ‘will always vote No against independence… in every scenario’ after previously telling the Fabian Society it was ‘not inconceivable’ she could back it in the event of a Brexit.
She also said she would ‘absolutely continue in post’ if Labour came third behind the Tories.
Yesterday, a Panelbase opinion poll put support for the break-up of Britain at 47 per cent and suggested Brexit would only push the figure to 50 per cent. Support has dipped from 52 per cent who said they would vote for independence if the UK left the EU in a similar poll in January.
On the BBC Sunday Politics show, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘If we are taken out of the EU against our will I will want to give the people of Scotland the opportunity to protect our EU membership by looking again at the issue of independence.’
Asked if this meant she planned to hold a referendum as soon as polls show she is likely to win it, she said it would be an ‘affront’ to democracy if a contest is blocked.
But Miss Davidson said last night: ‘Quite simply, Nicola Sturgeon has no mandate to hold a second referendum. To raise Brexit as a supposed trigger doesn’t hold water.’
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