Nicola Sturgeon 'regurgitated SNP pledges' says Wells

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A referendum on Scottish independence was last held in 2014, and 55.3 percent voted against independence. But Scotland’s First Minister and Scottish National Party (SNP) leader, Nicola Sturgeon, has been campaigning for a second independence referendum. After the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2021, Ms Sturgeon told Boris Johnson it is a “matter of when not if” there will be a second Scottish independence vote. So how could Ms Sturgeon secure Indyref2?

Significant support for a second referendum

Earlier this year, Cabinet minister Michael Gove told the Sunday Mail there will be a referendum if there is “clearly a settled will in favour” of a referendum being held.

But this week, another Government minister set an estimated figure of how much support would be needed for another referendum to be held.

Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack, said that a second independence referendum could take place providing polling shows 60 percent of Scots consistently support having one.

Mr Jack’s announcement is the first time a minister has defined conditions that would allow for another independence referendum to be held in Scotland.

Mr Jack told Politico: “If you consistently saw 60 percent of the population wanting a referendum — not wanting independence but wanting a referendum [to take place] — and that was sustained over a reasonably long period, then I would acknowledge that there was a desire for a referendum. Anyone can see that.”

However, Mr Jack added that this level of support is not currently evident in his opinion.

He said: “But that’s not where we are and it’s not how I perceive things to be.

“I think I’m broadly where the public are, which is that now is not the time to be having a referendum.

“We’ve had one, we’ve made our decision, let’s get on and rebuild the economy and rebuild people’s lives.”

The latest Scottish independence polls show there is not enough public support to justify a second referendum.

The latest Scottish independence poll was conducted by Redfield and Wilton Strategies on August 4 and 5.

The poll found that 47 percent of 1,000 respondents overall would oppose a referendum on Scottish independence being held in the next year, while 40 percent would support a referendum being held in the next year.

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Holyrood

Ms Sturgeon could try to secure a second referendum through her pro-independence majority in Holyrood.

When questioned about Mr Jack’s comments that 60 percent support would be required for another referendum, Ms Sturgeon said: “I am not going to get diverted in a Covid briefing into responding to Secretary of State, I think it was the Secretary of State, making up constitutional rules as he goes along.

“We have constitutional rules that are pretty well established in a democracy.

“If a party wins an election on a particular proposition they should get to implement that proposition.”

In the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2021, the SNP was one seat short of an overall majority.

However, the SNP joined a deal with the pro-independence Scottish Greens, giving the independence cause significant backing in Holyrood.

Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie said the deal would “put two green ministers into the heart of government advocating for climate” and pledging a referendum by the end of 2023.

The Scottish government could legislate in Holyrood for another vote and request power from the UK Government to hold another referendum.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already indicated this request would be rejected.

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