Scotland ‘must park independence debate and focus on education and the economy’
SCOTLAND is “stuck” on whether to leave the UK, a former first minister has said, after the council election results suggested that the nationalists have made little progress on winning support for independence since the 2014 referendum.
Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale, the last Labour first minister before the SNP took power in 2007, pointed out that the vote shares for the nationalist and Unionist parties in last week’s elections were “almost exactly” the same as in the independence vote.
When support for independent councillors was excluded, he said that the SNP and separation-supporting Scottish Greens together won 45.6 per cent of the vote in the local authority poll.
But the three Unionist parties – Labour, the Tories and Liberal Democrats – together attracted 54.4 per cent of the votes cast. In the 2014 referendum 44.7 per cent of Scots voted for independence and 55.3 per cent against.
Lord McConnell, who led the then Scottish Executive between 2001 and 2007, argued that “Scotland is stuck”.
He asked: “Can we just park this and prioritise education recovery, economic growth and social cohesion?”
Nicola Sturgeon is planning to table a Bill for another independence referendum to take place in autumn next year, despite polls showing a clear majority of Scots oppose her timetable.
She said yesterday that the local elections were not a “referendum on a referendum” and her party’s gains did not bolster the push for independence.
But she insisted it was “significant” that the vote shares of both the SNP (34.1 per cent) and Greens (6 per cent) increased slightly “and we take a lot of heart from it”.
Meanwhile, Douglas Ross said he had no plans to quit as Scottish Tory leader and insisted he was in the job “for the long run” after his party suffered heavy losses of more than 60 seats. Mr Ross, 39, said he would “try to do better” but continued to blame partygate for the result, saying it had led to Conservative supporters staying at home rather than casting their ballots.
Although there was little appetite among Scottish Tory MSPs for a leadership contest, some were unhappy at the “inconsistency” between him backing Mr Johnson to continue in No 10 and blaming him for the losses.
The Moray MP was the first senior Tory to demand Mr Johnson resign over partygate, only to face ridicule after retracting his call for the Prime Minister to quit when the Ukraine war started.
Mr Ross told BBC Scotland he was “absolutely determined” to continue as leader but added: “I also understand and accept criticism from colleagues.
“As leader of the party, I am someone who hopefully listens when concerns are raised, and there are always issues where I can do better and I will always seek to do that going forward.”