Sturgeon: ‘I’m not bluffing over the threat of Indyref 2’
NICOLA Sturgeon yesterday warned the UK Government she was ‘not bluffing’ on the promise of a second Scottish independence referendum – and claimed she could call one within the next five years.
The First Minister said she would go ahead with a second vote to break up the Union if Theresa May does not secure a soft Brexit.
Miss Sturgeon has set out the Scottish Government’s preferred option of remaining within the single market – and said that without access it remains likely she will hold a rerun of the 2014 vote.
The threat comes days after the SNP leader vowed to shelve plans for another referendum in a bid to ‘compromise’ with the Prime Minister.
But in a television interview yesterday, Miss Sturgeon said she does not believe Mrs May has a Brexit plan and put independence firmly back on the table.
On the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, she said: ‘They will be making a big mistake if they think I am in any way bluffing. Here we are, we voted to stay in the EU, we were told that voting No was the only way to stay in the EU and we now face being taken out of the EU.
‘If on something as fundamentally important as the membership of the EU and the single market and all the implications that has for us, if we are going to be ignored, if our voice is going to be completely cast aside, our interests cast aside, then that can happen on anything.’
Asked if an independence referendum was likely to happen within the next five years, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘If we are facing a hard Brexit, I would think yes.’
The First Minister revealed she had spoken to Mrs May on a number of occasions since their first meeting last July, but said: ‘To be perfectly frank, I don’t feel as if I know any more about her negotiating objectives today than I did six months ago.’
In response to Miss Sturgeon’s comments, the UK Government’s Education Secretary Justine Greening said: ‘It’s pretty obvious to me that in spite of the referendum result in Scotland, the SNP want to simply ignore that, they want to continue pushing the Scottish people against the decision that they voted to stay as part of the UK. I think that’s wrong.’
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said: ‘This week we’ve seen Nicola Sturgeon say that she was going to take a referendum off the table, only for her to put it back on the table again today.
‘The SNP are where they’ve always been – trying desperately to use Brexit as a means of whipping up support for independence.’
A recent poll showed that 61 per cent of voters are against an early ballot on breaking up the Union.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon could provide much needed clarity on Scotland’s future by ruling out another independence referendum altogether.’
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: ‘The First Minister is all over the place on independence. One minute she backs off, the next she threatens to break up the UK.
‘Nicola Sturgeon’s inconsistent position is causing damaging uncertainty.’
Earlier in the day, Alex Salmond had rounded on Mrs May, claiming she was ‘an empress with no political clothes whatsoever’. He also said that no plan for Brexit exists.
The former First Minister and SNP leader said Brexit opened up tremendous possibilities for Scotland and that a customised EU deal for Scots was possible, adding: ‘After all, there are going to be special deals for Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar and the car industry in Sunderland. So why not for Scotland?
‘Such a deal is feasible and would make Scotland super attractive for investment and very prosperous. And the more the Tories fear Scottish independence, the more likely they are to bow to Scotland’s will.
‘The country needs to get behind our First Minister – and prepare for a second independence referendum.’
‘First Minister is all over the place’ ‘Damaging uncertainty’