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Election 2019: SNP victory means 'fresh' indyref2 threat' - Swinson Election 2019: SNP victory means 'fresh' indyref2 threat' - Swinson
(about 7 hours later)
SNP victories at the general election will bring the "threat of a fresh Scottish independence referendum", Jo Swinson will warn later. The SNP will announce an independence referendum "within days" if they win more seats in the general election, Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has claimed.
She will claim the SNP will announce an independence referendum "within days" of the election if they win the most seats in Scotland. Ms Swinson said it was therefore crucial that her party held on to its seats in Scotland in next week's vote.
The Lib Dem leader will call on voters to back her party to avoid indyref2. She told the BBC's Andrew Neil on Wednesday that she would not work with the SNP to bring about a second EU if it meant agreeing to indyref2.
Ms Swinson will tell an Edinburgh rally Nicola Sturgeon should spend "less time banging on about independence". Ms Swinson was due to address Lib Dem activists in Edinburgh on Thursday.
A week before polling day, Lib Dem activists will be addressed by Ms Swinson as well as the party's Scottish leader Willie Rennie. Asked by Neil during her one-to-one interview with the broadcaster whether she would agree to an independence referendum in return for the SNP backing another Brexit referendum, Ms Swinson replied: "No".
Party colleagues Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, Christine Jardine and Beatrice Wishart will also speak at the event. She added: "I'm not going to support a second referendum in Scotland with all the extra chaos that brings.
Ms Swinson is expected to say: "For the last three-and-a-half years, the SNP have had front row seats watching the Conservatives fail to get Brexit done. "I will vote for a People's Vote on the Brexit deal and I think SNP members of parliament will also vote for that legislation because they will know that that's what people in Scotland want."
Ms Swinson, who apologised for voting to cut benefits while serving in the coalition government alongside the Conservatives, was expected to continue warning about independence at the rally in Edinburgh.
She was due to tell activists that SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon should: "Spend a little less time banging on about independence, and a little more time on sorting out our hospitals and mental health services".
Ms Swinson due to add: "For the last three-and-a-half years, the SNP have had front row seats watching the Conservatives fail to get Brexit done.
"They've seen that breaking up is hard to do but instead of learning the lessons, the SNP want to repeat the mistakes."They've seen that breaking up is hard to do but instead of learning the lessons, the SNP want to repeat the mistakes.
"They've watched how hard it is to break up a union of 40 years and they still want to try to break up one of more than 300 years."They've watched how hard it is to break up a union of 40 years and they still want to try to break up one of more than 300 years.
"And if the SNP win in the seats we are fighting, they will announce an independence referendum within days. That is not in Scotland's best interest.""And if the SNP win in the seats we are fighting, they will announce an independence referendum within days. That is not in Scotland's best interest."
She added: "Perhaps Nicola Sturgeon should spend a little less time banging on about independence, and a little more time on sorting out our hospitals and mental health services." What else has been happening on Thursday?
The Scottish Conservatives are also opposed to another independence referendum. They have committed in their manifesto to "stop Nicola Sturgeon's plan for a second independence referendum next year". SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon started a campaign bus tour with a warning that there are "seven days to escape Brexit".
Labour says it will not agree to a Scottish independence referendum in the "early years" of government. The Scottish party's leader, Richard Leonard, has said there should not be an "indefinite lock" on another independence poll, and suggested that a majority for the SNP at the Holyrood elections in "2021, 2026 or 2031" would give them a mandate to call for indyref2.
What else is happening on the campaign trail?
On Thursday, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon will start a national campaign bus tour as she warns there are "seven days to escape Brexit".
Speaking before the start of the tour, she said Boris Johnson "must be stopped next Thursday or it will be open season on Scotland as the Tories start to impose their hard-line Brexit scheme".Speaking before the start of the tour, she said Boris Johnson "must be stopped next Thursday or it will be open season on Scotland as the Tories start to impose their hard-line Brexit scheme".
She added: "Together we can stop Brexit. In every seat that the Tories hold in Scotland, the SNP are the main challengers. Ms Sturgeon added: "I don't believe that many people in Scotland want to be waking up on Friday 13 December to news of Boris Johnson as prime minister for five years, deciding and dictating Scotland's future.
"No other party can defeat them in Scotland so to stop Boris Johnson I urge voters to unite around the SNP. "This election will not decide whether or not Scotland becomes independent but it can send a very strong message that people in Scotland - whatever their views on that question are - want it to be decided here in Scotland."
"We have seven days to escape Brexit, lock Boris Johnson out of office and put Scotland's future in Scotland's hands." Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw and his Scottish Labour counterpart, Richard Leonard, both used First Minister's Questions at Holyrood to attack Ms Sturgeon's record in government.
She also warned that the Conservatives "will expose our NHS to a Tory-Trump trade deal." Mr Carlaw said that the international PISA figures which were released on Wednesday showed that the performance of Scottish schools in both maths and science have "never been lower".
And Mr Leonard called for Ms Sturgeon to apologise for her party's record after 12 years in power, adding: "This week, we have had confirmation that our GP practices are in crisis, that your education secretary is failing teachers and failing to provide the quality education that our young people deserve, and now today Police Scotland has been plunged into crisis."
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