No date set for referendum bill despite ‘growing’ sense UK failing
NICOLA Sturgeon has been unable to set out a timetable for a referendum bill on independence despite insisting there is a “growing sense” the UK is not serving the needs of nations.
The First Minister said she was updating the “very positive case” for Scotland to leave the UK after Sinn
Fein won the most seats, 27 out of 90, in last week’s Stormont elections in Northern Ireland.
The move comes ahead of the Ms Sturgeon visiting the United States next week to promote her Government’s thinking on international affairs ahead of her planned referendum.
The First Minister will meet business leaders and politicians to underline “Scotland’s key interests in global issues”.
Critics accused her of using public money to “grandstand about separation” and neglecting domestic problems.
The Scottish Government yesterday published a Global Affairs Framework setting out the “values, principles and priorities” behind its work “to become more active internationally”.
It says Scotland will focus on “global citizenship, maintaining close relations with the EU, gender equality, and respect for human rights”.
The framework also covers Ms Sturgeon’s plans for independence.
It says: “The principles of this Global Affairs Framework will apply regardless of Scotland’s constitutional position but clearly the contribution that Scotland could make, and the benefits it could receive, would be significantly enhanced with the powers of independence rather than devolution.
“The Scottish Government’s prospectus for enhanced international relations as an independent state will be published in the run-up to the independence referendum.”
It also states an independent
Scotland would return to the EU, but does not say if this would be done through a second EU referendum.
Ms Sturgeon has said she wants to hold Indyref2 next year, but Boris Johnson has refused to give Holyrood the power to do so.
The First Minister has said she will put a Referendum Bill through Holyrood regardless, but it is almost certain to be challenged at the UK Supreme Court and probably overturned.
The SNP leader said that following Sinn Fein becoming the biggest party in Northern Ireland’s Stormont election,
“there’s a growing sense that the UK in its current state is not serving the needs of Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland or perhaps even England appropriately”.
Asked when a Bill for a future independence referendum could be brought before the Scottish Parliament, the First Minister said she would “set that out in due course”.
Ms Sturgeon also said her Government would start to set out white papers for independence “in the very near future”.
It has been almost a decade since the previous independence white paper, which contained more than 700 pages, was published, with the First Minister promising the new paper would be
“refreshing” and put the “very positive case for independence”.
While in the United States, the Scottish Government said Ms Sturgeon would take part in “a range of engagements focused on the interlinked issues of climate, energy security and the war in Ukraine”, including “a keynote speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC”.
She will also meet US Congressional groups and “discuss ways to create a greener, fairer and more equitable economy with executives of companies operating across the Atlantic”.
Tory MSP Donald Cameron said: “Just a few days after the local elections and Nicola Sturgeon has already abandoned local issues to jet off on an ‘indy tour’ to the United States. The vast majority of Scots don’t want a referendum on Nicola Sturgeon’s timeline yet, instead of focusing on the issues Scots really care about, the First Minister would rather promote independence abroad at the taxpayers’ expense.
“The Scottish public will be outraged to see the First Minister taking her eye off the ball so soon after local elections – not to mention furious at this waste of taxpayer money in the middle of a costof-living crisis.
“Nicola Sturgeon should be focusing on tackling her government’s woeful record here at home, instead of taking the SNP’S obsession with independence on tour.”
The Scottish public will be furious at this waste of taxpayer money