Indyref 2 ‘will need backing of 60pc’

A SECOND independence referendum could go ahead if polls consistently show 60 per cent support for it, a UK Government minister has said.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said support for a referendum would need to reach these levels for a ‘reasonably long period’.

It is the first time that a UK minister has defined the conditions for allowing another vote to take place.

Earlier this month, Boris Johnson dismissed the prospect of another referendum, saying it was at the bottom of his list of priorities during the coronavirus recovery.

But Mr Jack’s comments come after Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said that the UK Government would not stand in the way of a second referendum if it was the ‘settled will’ of the people.

Asked what would constitute the ‘settled will’, Mr Jack said: ‘If you consistently saw 60 per cent of the population wanting a referendum – not wanting independence but wanting a referendum – and that was sustained over a reasonably long period, I would acknowledge that there was a desire for a referendum. ‘But that’s not where we are.’ He told politics website Politico: ‘I think I’m broadly where the public are, which is that now is not the time to be having a referendum. We’ve had one, let’s get on and rebuild the economy and rebuild people’s lives.’

The most recent opinion poll on whether or not there should be a referendum, conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, found that 42 per cent of those asked supported holding a referendum more than a year away but within five years, while 40 per cent said they opposed having one in this timescale. Voting intentions gave the No side a lead of 3 per cent.

Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘We have constitutional rules that are pretty well established in a democracy. If a party wins an election on a particular proposition, they should get to implement that proposition.’

SNP shadow Scottish secretary Mhairi Black said: ‘It would be undemocratic and unsustainable for the Tories to block the democratic right of the people to determine their future.’