Jack strays off message on second Scexit vote
THE SNP would have a ‘mandate’ for a second independence referendum if the party wins the next Holyrood election, a UK Government minister has claimed.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack yesterday appeared to contradict the Prime Minister’s pledge to block a re-run of the 2014 vote.
He said that the SNP winning a majority in 2021 – without the help of the Greens – would be a ‘democratic mandate’ for the ability to hold another vote.
During a visit to Scotland earlier this month, Boris Johnson gave a cast-iron assurance that he would not allow another Scexit vote – even in the event that the SNP wins more than half of the seats in the 2021 Holyrood election.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Mr Jack, the Conservative candidate for Dumfries and Galloway, said that the SNP winning a majority of Scottish seats in next month’s General Election would not provide the ‘democratic mandate’ for another Section 30 order to be granted, giving Holyrood the power to hold another referendum.
However, he added: ‘The democratic mandate for a Section 30 order is a matter for 2021.
‘We’ll see whether or not the Scottish National Party get a majority then – and I mean the Scottish National Party, not in collaboration with other parties, not in any alliances, but a Scottish National Party majority, which is what Ruth Davidson pointed out some months ago.’
Asked earlier this month if he could give a cast-iron pledge to voters not to agree a second referendum, Mr Johnson said: ‘Absolutely, there is no case whatsoever because people were promised in 2014 it would be a once in a generation event and I see no reason to go back on that pledge.’
The Tories have made the issue the central message of their campaign, by telling voters that they will stop an independence referendum from taking place. The SNP immediately attempted to capitalise on Mr Jack’s comments by claiming that Tory opposition to another vote is ‘crumbling’.
However, a source close to Mr Jack said: ‘What he was saying was it would be a matter for 2021. It will be an issue in that campaign: we can expect at that point that if they get a majority we can expect them to demand an independence referendum. His position is there should not be one.
‘When he said it is a matter for 2021, he is saying he knows it will come up. But his position is there shouldn’t be one. That does not mean conceding the 2021 election or that the SNP will get a majority.
‘We don’t think there will be a mandate [in the event of an SNP majority in 2021] because there has already been an independence referendum and the people decided.’
Richard Arkless, SNP candidate for Dumfries and Galloway, said: ‘It is totally unacceptable for Boris Johnson to say he will overrule the people of Scotland if the SNP wins this or any other election, or for Alister Jack now to say the Tories will decide which election does or does not count as a mandate.
‘Both Labour and the Tories are all over the place on this issue because their position is undemocratic, unsustainable and crumbling.’
In an interview published in The Herald yesterday, Mr Johnson spoke of his ‘absolute passion’ for the Union and said the economic arguments for Scotland remaining part of the UK were overwhelming.
‘He knows it will come up’