SNP says plan for Indyref2 in 2023 needs ‘ideal set of circumstances’
NICOLA Sturgeon and her Westminster leader have voiced fresh doubts about the SNP’S preferred timetable for holding a second independence referendum.
The First Minister said she didn’t know if the arrival of the Omicron variant of coronavirus would delay her plan to hold Indyref2 by late 2023.
Steering Scotland safely through the pandemic would be her focus “for as long as necessary”, she said.
Meanwhile, Westminster group leader Ian Blackford suggested the 2023 date would depend upon an “ideal set of circumstances”.
He said he and Ms Sturgeon were “absolutely desperate” to talk to the country about independence but “we have to deal with the pandemic first and foremost”.
The Skye MP also refused to put a date on a Holyrood Referendum Bill, merely saying it would be “over the course of the coming period”.
The SNP leaders were speaking ahead of Ms Sturgeon’s closing speech to the party’s online conference today, in which she is expected to discuss “our constitutional future”.
On Saturday, former SNP justice secretary Kenny Macaskill told his new Alba Party that the 2023 timetable was always a “fraud”.
The same day, Deputy First Minister John Swinney told the SNP conference he understood why members felt “impatient for independence”.
It led to former SNP health secretary Alex Neil complaining there was “no sign” of original thinking on the issue.
Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars also told Scotland on Sunday that Mr Swinney’s speech contained “nothing of substance”, adding: “John could not set the political heather on fire with a can of petrol and a lighted torch”.
Asked about Indyref2 on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Mr Blackford said: “Myself and the First Minister are absolutely desperate that we have that conversation with the people of Scotland about the type of country that we want to live in. And the First Minister has said that once we’ve dealt with the pandemic, let’s get this out the road, in an ideal set of circumstances we’d be having that referendum in 2023.
“My message to Boris Johnson, though, is that he has got to respect democracy. He’s got to respect the fact that the people of Scotland elected a Government that has a mandate for an independence referendum.
“What we’re doing is we’re taking our responsibilities seriously with the pandemic. Then we’ll go and have that referendum.”
Ms Sturgeon has said she wants to hold a second referendum before 2024, Covid permitting, with independence in 2026 if there is a Yes vote.
But the PM has refused to grant Holyrood the power it needs to hold a legally watertight vote.
Ms Sturgeon has said MSPS will pass a unilateral Referendum Bill if he continues to block her mandate, however this could well be struck down by the UK Supreme Court.
The SNP’S inability to overcome UK Government resistance has led to growing tension in the Yes movement.
On BBC1’S The Andrew Marr Show, Ms Sturgeon was asked if the arrival of the Omicron variant of coronavirus would delay her Indyref2 timetable.
She said: “I don’t know the answer to that question right now.
“I think if I stood up in front of my party ... and told them that I alone in the world could see when this Covid pandemic was going to end, then people would look at me a bit askance.
“We’re in a global pandemic. It’s still causing us serious challenges.
“I take my duties as First Minister very seriously. My primary duty right now is to lead the country through this pandemic and hopefully soon out of the other end of it.”
At the conference yesterday, SNP members reversed reforms introduced three years ago amid complaints about a lack of involvement in policy-making.
Delegates restored National Council events which had “not been adequately replaced by Regional Assemblies”.
Delegates also voted for a National Assembly to discuss the creation of a “Scottish central bank” to deliver a new Scottish currency.
The vote watered down a motion calling for an enabling Bill for such a bank to be drafted forthwith.
Activist Tim Rideout, who tabled the original motion, said the current SNP policy of initially trying to use sterling after independence “would be to start probably the most dangerous experiment in global monetary history”.
My message to Boris Johnson is that he has got to respect democracy