So you want a referendum? Just have a referendum
Expert Citizens’ vote will help SNP
Holding a “referendum on a referendum” could break the stalemate between Nicola Sturgeon and Theresa May, according to a leading elections expert.
Politics professor Matt Qvortrup said he first discussed the idea with Alex Salmond and Angus Robertson when the SNP were on the brink of winning the 2007 Holyrood election but were unlikely to get then PM Gordon Brown’s consent for a vote.
Ten years later, after a No vote in 2014, Sturgeon wants to hold another referendum by spring 2019 but Theresa May insists “now is not the time” as she embarks on Brexit negotiations.
And Qvortrup, who correctly predicted the public would vote by a four-point margin for Brexit, said the solution could be Scotland holding a “citizen- initiated referendum”.
He warned that Sturgeon needs an alternative plan, which could be a vote by Scot land on whether it should hold a referendum.
The poll could be sparked by 10 per cent of the electorate calling for one in a petition and it being approved by MSPs.
In an article for the Sunday Mail today, Qvortrup wrote: “Under these circumstances, the citizens’ referendum may be the SNP’s saviour.
“If Holyrood enact a law that allows the people to gather signatures demanding a referendum on independence (and other issues), this will further strengthen the SNP’s mandate to hold a vote.”
Qvortrup warned, however, that the vote could only be advisory.
He said: “But whatever the legal construction, the main benefit of such a provision is that it truly becomes the Scottish people who call the shots.”
But the proposal was met with a mixed reaction by politicians.
A spokesman for the First Minister said: “There is a cast-iron democratic mandate for giving the people of Scotland a choice on their future – and the referendum we are intent on delivering is the same kind as that which took place in 2014.
“We agree with the Prime Minister that now is not the time for a vote but if the UK Government’s intention is to try to indef initely block a referendum that would be utterly undemocratic and unsustainable.
“People across Scotland already disagree with that stance, and public opinion is only likely to turn even more sharply against the PM the longer she tries to stick to that position.” The Scottish Greens said they had “long been open” to the idea.
A spokesman said: “However, the combined events of Scotland being dragged out of Europe against its will a nd t he UK gove r n ment ’ s unwillingness to negotiate a separate deal for Scotland have changed the circumstances fundamentally. It’s clear the idea of a citizens’ initiative can’t become law in time to give the voters in Scotland a choice before the Tory Government drags the country into a hard Brexit we didn’t vote for.”
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said: “A referendum about are ferendum would ta ke the nationalists’ neverendum to a new brain-numbing level.”
Scottish Labour parliamentary business manager James Kelly said: “If Nicola Sturgeon plans a referendum on whether Scotland should have another divisive referendum on independence, it will reveal a Government completely out of ideas, desperate to distract Scotland from a horrendous record in Government.”
Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said: “The people of Scotland don’t want independence, and don’t want another referendum to prove that.
“They certainly won’t want a referendum on whether or not there should be a referendum.”