Salmond slated for go-it-alone Indyref 2 plot
SNP leaders were last night urged to stop plotting a new referendum after Alex Salmond refused to rule out going ahead without Theresa May’s consent.
The Prime Minister has dismissed Nicola Sturgeon’s call for a rerun of the 2014 vote as early as next year.
But Mr Salmond yesterday would not rule out bringing forward legislation without first securing agreement on a ‘Section 30 order’ from Mrs May, or holding a Catalonia-style ‘consultative’ vote.
It comes amid speculation that Miss Sturgeon is considering bringing forward a Referendum Bill after the Easter recess then issuing a demand for the power to hold a vote after the legislation is passed by MSPs.
During an appearance on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Mr Salmond twice refused to say if he would support an ‘advisory’ referendum if the Prime Minister does not budge.
He said he would ‘leave these matters to the person responsible’ but added: ‘The Theresa May line – this is not the time or now is not the time – is not going to stand. That line will crumble because no Prime Minister can stand against the democratic wishes.’
Asked by Mr Marr why he was reluctant to talk about holding a referendum without Mrs May’s consent since it is ‘in the hands of the parliament and the SNP’, Mr Salmond said: ‘The First Minister has said she will outline to parliament after the Easter recess what her strategy is going to be.’
SNP sources have indicated that pressing ahead with a Bill would require the UK Government to challenge it as outside Holyrood’s legislative powers before it gets Royal Assent.
According to a Sunday newspaper, one senior Nationalist said: ‘From an SNP point of view it has the beauty of being entirely above board – proposing a legal referendum and, critically, it could be challenged only after it had gone through every parliamentary stage.’
Constitutional expert Matt Qvortrup, who has previously advised the SNP on its approach to a referendum, also said the SNP could go ahead with a ‘citizen-initiated referendum’.
Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said:
‘Now is not the time to go back to more division and uncertainty. The First Minister must begin to act for the whole country, not as a recruiting sergeant for an independence campaign most people don’t want.’
Opponents also accused Mr Salmond of casting further doubt on whether the SNP still supports an independent Scotland because he said people must have the choice between ‘Brexit Britain’ and ‘an independent Scotland within the European context’.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said: ‘The SNP can’t use the Brexit vote to claim a mandate for another referendum when they refuse to say they would take us back in. It shows the EU was just an excuse and that it has only ever been about independence for the SNP.’