The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Indyref to be held ‘early in an SNP government’
Deputy First Minister John Swinney says a second Scottish independence referendum could be held when the country begins to see “signs of recovery” from Covid.
Mr Swinney agreed with boss Nicola Sturgeon, who said she hopes to hold a vote on Scotland’s future in the first half of the next parliament if she wins.
He said this was a “reasonable timescale” and added that he wants to see people in Scotland “decide how the country should recover”, suggesting a vote on independence before a full recovery.
Mr Swinney said: “I don’t want the recovery in Scotland to be one designed by Boris Johnson in London.
“I want people in Scotland to be able to decide how the country should recover, how we should tackle that fundamental inequality, how we should use our resources, how we should enable individuals to participate in our society to be productive contributors to our society and to do what we need to have the powers of independence.”
Pressed on when this could be, Mr Swinney said only that it could take place once the country “gets to a position of stability on the handling of Covid”.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said there is “no way” the SNP can focus on recovery while campaigning again for independence.
Speaking at the launch of his party’s infrastructure plans yesterday, he said: “It is incredible that senior members of the SNP and within the Scottish Government still think it’s acceptable that at any stage in our recovery that we should look to divide the country all over again.
“While the SNP seem to try to minimise reference to independence on some of their leaflets recently, it was abundantly clear from the SNP manifesto that they will seek to do that in the first half of the next parliament, that means in the next couple of years.”
Mr Swinney was also questioned on his government’s failure to close the attainment gap, which he said was a “longterm endeavour”.
But Mr Swinney said the SNP had narrowed the attainment gap at national 5 by a third and at Higher by a fifth, and “more young people are leaving with more qualifications than when the SNP came to office in 2007”.
He added: “We’ve said it would take longer than one parliamentary term. We’ve used one parliamentary term to make the significant progress I have recounted but one of the issues we’ve got to bear in mind with the poverty-related attainment gap is that if we have a UK Government taking decisions which are forcing more young people and families into poverty then our challenge will just get greater.”
SNP candidate for Aberdeenshire West Fergus Mutch said: “This is desperate stuff from a party which has absolutely nothing to offer Scotland at this election but petty, negative soundbites.
“People in the north-east are turning away from the Tories and their dreadful campaign – and no wonder, when Douglas Ross’s party is risking jobs and devastating our fishing industry with a hard Brexit, stripping powers from our parliament, and putting our NHS on the table.
“The SNP has an ambitious vision for Scotland, while the Tories want to put a cap on that ambition and leave Scotland’s recovery from Covid in the hands of Boris Johnson.”