Keir Starmer claims Nicola Sturgeon puts Shot to Scot
Scotland’s first minister has said she wants a legal, constitutional referendum on Scottish independence. She announced Tuesday that a new bill will be published in Holyrood for an advisory vote on October 19, 2023.
The announcement was met with derision by political commentators, including Brexit supporter Darren Grimes.
The GB News presenter tweeted: “Nicola Sturgeon wants to ask the question ‘Should Scotland be an independent country?’ back to Scottish voters, only, that’s not what she’s really asking them.
“If Scotland leaves the UK it will become a client state of Brussels. What does that look like ‘independence’?”
Ms Sturgeon opposes Brexit and has argued that Scottish voters have the right to choose their country’s future as an independent country and rejoin the EU.
Nicola Sturgeon would make Scotland a ‘customer state’ of Brussels, says Darren Grimes (Image: Getty/Twitter)
Nicola Sturgeon addresses MSPs in Holyrood (Image: Getty)
The Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party accused the Conservatives of fear of democracy during the Prime Minister’s questions on Wednesday (29 June).
Ian Blackford MP asked the House of Commons why the UK government fears democracy.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ruled out a second vote on Scottish independence as the focus must be on building a stronger economy.
But political opponents have thwarted pressure for another independence referendum.
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Darren Grimes (Image: PA)
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford (Image: Getty)
Deputy leader of the Reclaim Party, Martin Daubney, responded to Mr Blackford’s comments on Twitter.
He wrote: “‘Why is the British government afraid of democracy?’ say [Ian Blackford MP] who spent four years trying – and failing – to cancel Brexit, the largest democratic vote in the history of the British Parliament.”
Ian Murray, the Secretary of Labor Shadow Scotland, said: “Yesterday was nothing more than an attempt by the Prime Minister to deviate from her appalling record in government and the prospect of a future Labor government to replace Boris Johnson’s That’s what she’s most afraid of.
“All that matters to Nicola Sturgeon is of course independence, not rising NHS waiting times, hungry children, drug deaths, rising poverty, a higher level of education or Scots worrying about their bills.”
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The Cost of Scottish Independence (Image: Express)
Ms Sturgeon said in her announcement that she would use the next election in Westminster as a “de facto referendum” on Scottish independence if Holyrood is prevented from holding another vote on leaving the UK.
But that has been challenged by a political expert.
Professor James Mitchell, from the University of Edinburgh, said: “There is no such thing as an actual referendum.
“An election is simply not a referendum, an actual referendum, or any other kind of referendum.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Image: Getty)
He spoke as Scotland’s Deputy Prime Minister was forced to clarify his remarks about what would be needed for a general election to give the Scottish government a mandate to begin independence negotiations.
John Swinney initially suggested this could happen if the SNP won a majority of Scottish MPs in the next UK election.
However, he later came back on Twitter and said he had misunderstood the interviewer’s question and made it clear that “nothing but a majority of the vote would suffice.”
Mr Swinney explained that when asked if negotiations could begin if his party wins a majority of Scotland’s constituencies, he “only picked up a ‘majority’.”
He added: “Referenda, including de facto referendums in a general election in the UK, are won by a majority vote. Nothing else.”
Professor Mitchell questioned plans to use the next vote in Westminster in this way, stressing that it was “not for a political party to dictate the terms of an election”.
Speaking to ITV, he said: “There are elections and referendums and they are very different.
“In an election, the voter gets to choose what he or she wants to choose to determine their vote. It doesn’t have to be about one issue – it is rarely about one issue – but about a series of issues.
“It is not up to a political party to dictate the terms of an election.
“In a referendum, the question is very clear, that’s the whole point of a referendum, it’s focused. There’s not the same focus in an election.”