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Nicola Sturgeon: don't rule out new independence referendum indefinitely | |
(34 minutes later) | |
Nicola Sturgeon has welcomed the UK government’s promise to enshrine the Scottish parliament in law, but said it would be wrong to rule out another referendum on independence. | |
In a speech on Friday to mark a year since the referendum, Sturgeon said she respected the result but told David Cameron he was “living on borrowed time”. | |
Related: 'Folk have become bolder': optimism for independent Scotland undented a year on | |
“It would be wrong to propose another referendum without a fundamental change of circumstances or a strong indication that a significant number of those who voted no last year had changed their minds,” Sturgeon told an audience in Edinburgh. | |
“But it would also be wrong – in the face of a clear and material shift in circumstances or in public opinion – for any one politician or party to rule out another referendum indefinitely.” | |
In a radio interview earlier on Friday, the first minister said “a whole host” of issues needed to be addressed in the Scotland bill now going through Westminster before it would meet “the vow” made by UK leaders just before last year’s referendum. | |
The prime minister’s announcement on Friday that he would be making Holyrood permanent, with a new requirement that it could be abolished only after a referendum in Scotland, was “one step in a long road which has to be travelled”, Sturgeon said. | |
Related: Sturgeon: scrap cuts and Trident or face another vote on independence | Related: Sturgeon: scrap cuts and Trident or face another vote on independence |
“Of course I welcome anything which strengthens the Scotland bill but what David Cameron has indicated today is actually an admission that the Scotland bill doesn’t live up to the proposals in the Smith commission and doesn’t implement the vow that was made in the closing days of the referendum campaign,” she told BBC Radio Scotland. | |
A YouGov opinion poll this week suggested that only 9% of Scottish voters believed the Scotland bill lived up to the vow – the declaration signed by Cameron, the then Labour leader Ed Miliband and then Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg pledging substantial devolution of new powers to Holyrood. | |
Sturgeon pointed out that even Miliband’s predecessor, Gordon Brown, had criticised the Scotland bill, saying it did not live up to the UK parties’ pledge. “I think they have to go a lot further before they can get anywhere near to the position of saying that they’re delivering on the promises that they made,” she said. | |
As @AlexSalmond watches from door, @NicolaSturgeon tells @theSNP parliamentarians party membership now at 112,208 pic.twitter.com/4JQkGrb4iO | As @AlexSalmond watches from door, @NicolaSturgeon tells @theSNP parliamentarians party membership now at 112,208 pic.twitter.com/4JQkGrb4iO |
The bill was “riddled with vetoes” on welfare, so Westminster could block measures at Holyrood; it failed to allow Holyrood to introduce new welfare benefits – despite the recommendation by the Smith commission that MSPs could do so; and issues remained on Holyrood’s powers over land and assets owned by the crown. | |
Sturgeon insisted she did not feel under any pressure to publish a firm policy on a second referendum because the SNP was at 50% in the polls, but she would set out the conditions for one in next May’s Scottish parliament election. | Sturgeon insisted she did not feel under any pressure to publish a firm policy on a second referendum because the SNP was at 50% in the polls, but she would set out the conditions for one in next May’s Scottish parliament election. |
Triggers could be deeper UK spending cuts; renewing Trident against popular wishes; or taking Scotland out of the European Union against its wishes if the rest of the UK voted to leave at the EU referendum. | |
Speaking earlier on Friday on Good Morning Scotland, David Mundell, the Scotland secretary, refused to state clearly whether the UK government would veto a formal request for a second referendum as Cameron has previously stated. | |
“I don’t want to get into these minutiae arguments about other referendums, I want Scotland to move on, I want the debate to be about tax, welfare, how we use the powers we’ve got in the Scottish parliament for the best interests of the people of Scotland,” Mundell said. | “I don’t want to get into these minutiae arguments about other referendums, I want Scotland to move on, I want the debate to be about tax, welfare, how we use the powers we’ve got in the Scottish parliament for the best interests of the people of Scotland,” Mundell said. |
The cabinet minister accused Sturgeon and other critics of the Scotland bill of misrepresenting the parliamentary process. It was normal for ministers to look carefully at amendment proposals and then change the bill at a later stage. He would now do that in October, with a series of amendments to reflect the criticisms which had been made. | |
Alistair Darling, the former Labour chancellor who led the campaign for Scotland to remain in the UK, said the vote was decisive and there was no appetite from the Scottish public for another referendum any time soon. | |
“Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, is in no hurry either because she will not call a referendum until she thinks she can win it,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday. However, he said there were many risks ahead because the SNP were in a strong position, aided by the UK government’s poor handling of devolution legislation. |