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May 'will turn clock back' in Scotland if she blocks referendum
May accused of 'arrogant bluster' over Scottish independence
(about 2 hours later)
The deputy first minister of Scotland has said it would be a “democratic outrage” if Theresa May attempted to frustrate proposals for an independence referendum.
Theresa May has been accused by the Scottish National party deputy leader of “arrogant bluster” for trying to block a Scotland independence referendum.
John Swinney said the prime minister risked “turning the clock back to the bad old days of the times when the Conservatives ignored democratic opinion in Scotland” if she blocked a second vote on independence in the timeframe put forward by the SNP.
In the opening address to the SNP’s spring conference, Angus Robertson insisted the Scottish government would stage the vote just as Brexit takes place regardless of the prime minister’s apparent veto.
His comments come after May said “now is not the time” for the referendum the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said should take place between autumn 2018 and spring 2019.
“Let there be no doubt: Scotland will have its referendum and the people of this country will have their choice,” Robertson told a cheering audience.
Responding to May’s rebuke, Sturgeon said on Thursday: “History may look back on today and see it as the day the fate of the union was sealed.”
“They will not be denied their say. Scotland’s referendum is going to happen, and no UK prime minister should dare to stand in the way of Scottish democracy.”
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday, Swinney said the SNP had a mandate for holding a second referendum in the face of Scotland being taken out of the EU against its will.
Robertson’s speech, which followed three days of tense brinkmanship between Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, and May over the referendum’s timing, was carefully calibrated to avoid pitching the SNP and wider independence movement into a partisan battle pitting nationalists against the Tories.
“Theresa May will be standing in front of that with the support of just one Westminster MP from Scotland and that is a democratic outrage,” he said.
With about two-thirds of Scottish voters against an early referendum, and a large minority of pro-independence voters hostile towards the EU, Sturgeon must attract unaligned, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Tory voters to back independence in Europe.
Swinney defended the SNP’s proposed timetable, saying it fitted the government and European commission’s plans for the UK withdrawing from the EU. There would be 18 months of negotiations once article 50 is triggered, expected at the end of this month, and then six months of ratification.
Echoing earlier radio interviews by John Swinney, Scotland’s deputy first minister, Robertson described the dispute as a conflict between the prime minster and the “cast iron mandate” of the Scottish parliament.
He said: “Our point is not to have a referendum tomorrow, our point is to have a referendum at the earliest in the autumn of 2018, when on the prime minister and the UK government’s own admission, the agreement to exit the European Union will be clear as a consequence of the negotiation process.
Sturgeon is expected to win a key vote in Holyrood next week on her demands for a referendum between autumn 2018 and spring 2019 by a narrow margin. Her minority government will rely on six Scottish Green party votes to win the vote, but Sturgeon will rely heavily on that vote as proof her demands are legitimate and cannot be refused.
“The prime minister’s position is utterly unsustainable because what we’re asking for is the opportunity to legislate for an independence referendum that would take place in exactly the timescale that we have just discussed.”
Sturgeon’s aides were adamant she is not considering staging an unofficial or indicative referendum if May continued to resist giving Holyrood the legal powers to stage an official referendum.
Swinney said the people of Scotland did not vote for a so-called hard Brexit, and neither did some leave supporters. “That’s been a choice applied by Theresa May and that’s an illustration of the issues where Theresa May could have taken a very different stance and could have tried to come to some agreement with the Scottish government about the way forward on this option and she has chosen not to do that.”
Their strategy will be to attack the Tories’ mandate in Scotland, where it has just one MP. While it is Holyrood’s second largest party, with 31 of its 129 seats, the Scottish Tories won only 22% of the constituency vote in May 2016.
He added that the SNP would try to secure a place in the EU for Scotland if it voted for independence. He would not be drawn on whether an “advisory” referendum would be held if May refused a legally binding vote.
Ducking questions on which currency an independent Scotland would use and the significance of dwindling oil revenues, Swinney told BBC Radio Scotland on Friday that this issue would “crystallise” next week. It would leave “a democratic Scottish parliament by a majority calling for a timetable [and] David Mundell, as the sole Conservative MP in Scotland, and the prime minister who say no”.
Swinney said it would be “unstable and dangerous” for the prime minister to block a referendum, adding “if she doesn’t, she’ll be turning the clock back to the bad old days of the times when the Conservatives ignored democratic opinion in Scotland”.
Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, who heads the second largest party at Holyrood, insisted on Thursday that Holyrood was split. Unlike its unanimous vote to support the 2014 independence referendum, this time three parties at Holyrood objected to a new referendum.
May said the government would not allow any discussion of a referendum until the Brexit deal was signed and Scottish voters had time to weigh it up, implying any vote might not take place until 2021 at the earliest. “To look at the issue at this time would be unfair, because people wouldn’t have the necessary information to make such a crucial decision,” she added.
Robertson countered it would be a “democratic outrage” for May to ignore Holyrood’s vote. Addressing May, he said: “Your mask has slipped and the real face of Tory arrogance is there for all to see.
May’s gamble is driven by a series of opinion polls showing that a large majority of Scottish voters do not want a referendum before Brexit, even though support for independence has jumped from about 45% to nearly 50% after the government set out its Brexit plans in January.
“What your arrogant bluster doesn’t conceal is that you have no intention whatsoever of reaching a deal with the Scottish government. You intend to break your promise to Scotland and you think you can get away with it.
The prime minister’s blunt intervention is likely to goad SNP activists into an even more energetic independence campaign this summer as they seek to build support for a referendum, starting at the SNP’s spring conference this weekend.
“Well let me absolutely clear to Theresa May: you are not going to get away with it.”
UK government sources indicated on Wednesday that May would not formally respond to Sturgeon’s timetable before the first minister had officially requested legal authority for a referendum, under section 30 of the Scotland Act 1998, following next week’s Holyrood vote on the proposal.
Two other Scottish cabinet ministers used conference speeches to attack May. Fiona Hyslop, the Scottish external affairs secretary, said the prime minister was “determined to diminish the Scottish parliament”.
The SNP’s deputy leader, Angus Robertson, is to accuse the government of running scared of a second independence referendum. The party’s leader in Westminster will also accuse the Conservatives of having a “desperate desire” to prevent anyone rejecting hard Brexit.
To cheers from delegates, Humza Yousaf, the transport minister, said: “If Theresa May thinks we will shut up and eat our cereal she should think again.”
Robertson is expected to tell the SNP spring conference in Aberdeen that it is for the people of Scotland to decide the country’s future.
He will say: “It is clear from the PM’s panicked response to the Scottish government’s decision to, rightly, give people in Scotland a choice over Scotland’s future, that the Tories are simply scared of the people’s choice. The Tories’ argument is not about process, it is about their desperate desire to prevent anyone having the chance to reject the hard-right Brexit that they are so wedded to.
“The truth is it should not be for either Theresa May or the Scottish government to decide Scotland’s future – that choice belongs to the parliament and the people of Scotland, and it is one this party will never shy away from.”
