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| Scotland 'can hold independence vote without UK's go-ahead' | Scotland 'can hold independence vote without UK's go-ahead' |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| The deputy leader of the Scottish National party has said Nicola Sturgeon should call a second independence referendum without waiting for legal powers from London to do so. | |
| Keith Brown told an audience of independence activists in Aberdeen: “If we want to have a referendum, then we decide we’re going to have a referendum.” | Keith Brown told an audience of independence activists in Aberdeen: “If we want to have a referendum, then we decide we’re going to have a referendum.” |
| Sturgeon’s public position is that she would not stage a referendum without Westminster’s approval. Her advisers say that doing so would alienate wavering voters, undermine confidence in her record for responsible government and bog her administration down in lengthy court battles. | |
| The Scottish government can only stage an official referendum legally if it is given a section 30 order under the Scotland Act, and could be sued if it were to use public funds for one without approval. Theresa May has repeatedly said she will not allow an independence referendum while Brexit is ongoing, a process she says will take several years to complete. | |
| Sturgeon is due to make a speech on her plans for a second vote in the next few weeks, once there is clarity over Brexit. The first minister said last month that “calm consideration” was needed. Brown’s remarks add to the intense pressure she faces from activists and some SNP MSPs to avoid further delays. | |
| There has been speculation that Sturgeon favours delaying any referendum until after the 2021 Scottish elections, but Brown said she had sympathy with hardline arguments that a further delay would allow Brexit to become “normalised” in voters’ minds. | |
| In video footage of his speech published by the Sun on Thursday, Brown accepted there was a worry that staging a referendum without legal approval would damage support for independence. | In video footage of his speech published by the Sun on Thursday, Brown accepted there was a worry that staging a referendum without legal approval would damage support for independence. |
| He said, however, that the SNP had a mandate from the 2016 Holyrood elections to stage a second referendum if there was a material change in Scotland’s circumstances. Sturgeon has said the Brexit vote was such a change. | |
| Implying that he wanted to call a referendum soon, Brown said: “I have said that I don’t think that certainly the SNP, and I don’t think the yes movement, should be willing to anticipate a refusal of a section 30 order as a reason not to call a referendum.” | Implying that he wanted to call a referendum soon, Brown said: “I have said that I don’t think that certainly the SNP, and I don’t think the yes movement, should be willing to anticipate a refusal of a section 30 order as a reason not to call a referendum.” |
| On Brexit, he said: “I think the extension of article 50, if that happens, just means we’re going to get more and more disinvestment and job losses and the undermining of the economy. | On Brexit, he said: “I think the extension of article 50, if that happens, just means we’re going to get more and more disinvestment and job losses and the undermining of the economy. |
| “And the other thing that’s worth bearing in mind is, in 2021 if Brexit was to happen and we didn’t go relatively soon, then the idea that Brexit might become normalised is quite a worry. People will get used to it, it will actually be normal. So that, I think, I know, is also in Nicola’s mind.” | “And the other thing that’s worth bearing in mind is, in 2021 if Brexit was to happen and we didn’t go relatively soon, then the idea that Brexit might become normalised is quite a worry. People will get used to it, it will actually be normal. So that, I think, I know, is also in Nicola’s mind.” |
| Pressed to clarify his remarks, Brown issued a statement on Twitter saying he had meant that Sturgeon should not be dissuaded from preparing for a referendum before she had won the legal right to stage it. | Pressed to clarify his remarks, Brown issued a statement on Twitter saying he had meant that Sturgeon should not be dissuaded from preparing for a referendum before she had won the legal right to stage it. |
| He tweeted: “My position is clear – the deeply undemocratic stance of the UK government in denying the mandate for indyref and refusing a s30 order should not prevent the Scottish government seeking one and planning on the basis of winning that case.” | He tweeted: “My position is clear – the deeply undemocratic stance of the UK government in denying the mandate for indyref and refusing a s30 order should not prevent the Scottish government seeking one and planning on the basis of winning that case.” |
| The 2014 Scottish independence referendum was held after Sturgeon’s predecessor as first minister, Alex Salmond, and David Cameron negotiated a section 30 order and signed the Edinburgh agreement. Sturgeon has repeatedly said she wants to follow that model. | The 2014 Scottish independence referendum was held after Sturgeon’s predecessor as first minister, Alex Salmond, and David Cameron negotiated a section 30 order and signed the Edinburgh agreement. Sturgeon has repeatedly said she wants to follow that model. |
| The SNP has been asked to comment on Brown’s remarks. | |
| Jackson Carlaw, the acting Scottish Conservative leader, said: “People are sick to the back teeth of the nationalists’ games. In 2014 we had a fair, legal and decisive referendum. To push now, just five years later, for an illegal, unwanted and deeply divisive re-run would show once and for all that Sturgeon’s SNP no longer stands for Scotland, it stands only for itself.” | Jackson Carlaw, the acting Scottish Conservative leader, said: “People are sick to the back teeth of the nationalists’ games. In 2014 we had a fair, legal and decisive referendum. To push now, just five years later, for an illegal, unwanted and deeply divisive re-run would show once and for all that Sturgeon’s SNP no longer stands for Scotland, it stands only for itself.” |
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