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Nicola Sturgeon shelves second independence referendum Nicola Sturgeon shelves second Scottish independence referendum
(35 minutes later)
Nicola Sturgeon has abandoned her demands for a new independence referendum before the Brexit deal is signed, after her party suffered heavy defeats in the general election. Nicola Sturgeon has abandoned her demands for a new Scottish independence referendum before the Brexit deal is signed, after her party suffered heavy defeats in the general election.
The first minister told Holyrood she accepted there was no popular support in Scotland for a second vote on independence, and said legislation to hold one would be delayed until at least autumn 2018. The first minister told Holyrood she accepted there was no popular support in Scotland for a second vote on independence, and that legislation to hold one would be delayed until at least autumn 2018.
“My responsibility as first minister is to build as much unity and consensus as possible,” she told MSPs. “We face a Brexit that we didn’t vote for and in a form more extreme than any of us could have imagined one year ago.”“My responsibility as first minister is to build as much unity and consensus as possible,” she told MSPs. “We face a Brexit that we didn’t vote for and in a form more extreme than any of us could have imagined one year ago.”
Sturgeon added that she reserved the right to bring back her proposed bill to stage that vote in autumn 2018, a time when she said the terms of the UK’s Brexit deal with the EU would become clear. Sturgeon said she reserved the right to bring back her proposed bill to stage the independence vote in autumn 2018, a time when she said the terms of the UK’s Brexit deal with the EU would become clear.
The Scottish National party lost 21 of its 56 Westminster seats at the hands of all three pro-UK parties at the election, where its support fell by 470,000 votes. Sturgeon saw her Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, and former first minister Alex Salmond lose their seats to the Tories. The Scottish National party lost 21 of its 56 Westminster seats at the hands of all three pro-UK parties at the election. Its support fell by 470,000 votes, and Sturgeon saw her Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, and former first minister Alex Salmond lose their seats to the Tories.
Sturgeon admitted Scotland’s voters had rejected her calls for a fresh vote so she was now scrapping her timetable for introducing a referendum bill before Christmas. That would allow her to “reset” her strategy.
The revised timescale would make it more difficult to stage the referendum before the next Scottish parliamentary elections in May 2021, unless it was timed to happen at that election. Passing that enabling bill, agreeing the necessary legal arrangements with the UK government and then allowing at least six months to hold the referendum, would take at least 18 months.
Sturgeon told Holyrood she planned now to “put my shoulder to the wheel” to build a cross-party consensus to make sure the Brexit talks produced the best possible deal for Scotland.
Sturgeon has slowly but deliberately softened her demands for a referendum over recent months, after a series of opinion polls showed diminishing support for the vote and for the SNP. Sturgeon’s own popularity suffered too, with one poll in May showing her popularity had slumped by 28 points to -4 since September 2016.
Sturgeon had surprised her opponents in March by calling on Theresa May to allow Holyrood a second referendum between autumn 2018 and spring 2019, insisting her party had an undeniable mandate to stage that vote.
May rejected that call three days later, insisting she would not consider allowing a new referendum until after the Brexit process was complete, saying “now is not the time”.
Sturgeon told MSPs on Tuesday she and her party had failed to persuade enough voters that independence was the right solution. “We haven’t done that yet but I have no doubt that we can,” she said.
The Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson, said Sturgeon ought to cancel all plans for a referendum during this parliament, and take responsibility for misreading the mood of the Scottish electorate.
“She appears to be in denial about her mistakes over this last year and, as a result, is leaking credibility and confidence in her leadership by the hour,” Davidson said. “She now claims to be putting the referendum to one side. She should just give the country some certainty and take it off the table for the rest of this parliament at least.”
As Sturgeon spoke on Tuesday, the SNP launched a new campaign website, mobilise.scot, to help rebuild support for a referendum. The site published the first minister’s Holyrood speech before it was released by the Scottish government.