Sturgeon: I’m restarting the independence debate
Fresh push for separation... just as a poll shows Union support rising
NICOLA Sturgeon will ‘restart’ her independence bid – despite a new poll showing fewer than a third of Scots back separation.
The SNP leader claimed a report to be published this week on the economic case for independence would be an ‘important moment’.
But a poll published today reveals support for the Union remains strong in Scotland and across the UK. It shows only 30 per cent of Scots are opposed to the Union in its current form, while 52 per cent say they are in favour.
The SNP is due to publish its Growth Commission report this week, which is expected to recommend Scotland would use the pound without being part of a formal currency union if it became independent, before eventually switching to a new Scottish currency.
On ITV’s Peston on Sunday, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘Once we get some clarity – which hopefully we will in the autumn – about the Brexit outcome and the future relationship between the UK and the EU, then I will consider again the timing of an independence referendum.
‘I’m not going to say more about that in advance but over the next couple of weeks we will, I suppose, restart a debate about why independence is an opportunity and what those opportunities are.
‘We’ve had a Growth Commission looking at the opportunities of independence. Its report will be published in the coming days and that’s an important moment.
‘If you think about the last couple of years, it’s been very much a debate about how we cope with the damage of Brexit. Scotland now has the opportunity to look at how we seize the opportunities that lie ahead; a debate based very much on ambition and hope, not on despair, which is how the Brexit debate so often feels.’
The poll of more than 2,000 UK adults, including 514 in Scotland, by ICM for the Policy Exchange think-tank found 52 per cent of Scots are in favour of the Union and only 30 per cent against. Support was even stronger in other parts of the UK, with 68 per cent in England in favour, as well as 66 per cent in Wales and 59 per cent in Northern Ireland.
The poll, carried out last week, found 20 per cent of Scots’ support for the Union has risen, while it was unchanged for 40 per cent and had fallen for 34 per cent.
But the poll did suggest Brexit could be a threat to the Union, with 59 per cent of people in Scotland saying it makes the break-up of the UK more likely, while only 12 per cent said it made it less likely.
Policy Exchange director Dean Godson said: ‘Support for the Union is strong but people are understandably nervous about the future.’
The SNP set up the Growth Commission, led by former MSP Andrew Wilson, shortly after Britain voted to leave the EU. It has been considering the key economic policies for an independent Scotland. But Scottish Tory finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: ‘The SNP Growth Commission has always been more about promoting independence than growing the economy.
‘It is no surprise Nicola Sturgeon is using this report to begin another push for Indyref 2.
‘The plan to create a Scottish pound is wholly unworkable and would be deeply damaging to businesses trading with the rest of the UK. The SNP will pursue independence at any cost – and the cost to the Scottish public will be staggering.’
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: ‘The economic and social transformation Scotland urgently needs will not come from another referendum on leaving the UK – on which the sovereign will of the Scottish people has been clearly expressed.
‘The idea that a separate Scotland would seek to use the pound without a central bank behind it is a recipe for instability and is the economics of dereliction.
‘We would give up our say over interest rate policy, exchange rate policy and inflation.
‘Scotland does not need, and the people of Scotland do not want, this tired argument again. The SNP should recognise that and focus instead on jobs, schools and hospitals.’
Comment – Page 28
‘The cost will be staggering’