“Now is not the time”
May wants Scotland to wait until after Brexit to hold their independence referendum.
The Scottish National Party leader and First Minister says Scotland wants out, again.
Another complication has arisen in the logistical nightmare that is Brexit, as the pressure increases on an already tense and agitated Prime Minister Theresa May.
“If Scotland is to have a real choice when the terms of Brexit are known, but before it is too late to choose our own course. Then that choice must be offered between the autumn of next year 2018 and the spring of 2019,” said Nicola Sturgeon in a speech on Monday.
May has not ruled out allowing a second Scottish independence referendum, but was adamant about waiting until after the Brexit negotiations, saying: “now is not the time.”
“At this point all of our energies should be focussed on our negotiations with the European Union about our future relationship,” the Prime Minister said in response to Sturgeon’s announcement. “To be talking about an independence referendum would make it more difficult for us to get the right deal for Scotland and the right deal for the UK.”
Sturgeon dismissed the Prime Minister’s comments saying that it would be “undemocratic” for her to block a Scottish independence referendum. Alex Salmond’s successor appealed to a crowd of anti-independence voters, trying to rally their support for the referendum as well.
“Scotland’s future must be Scotland’s choice,” she said yesterday. “To stand in the way of a referendum would deny us that choice. It would mean the path of our country was decided not by us, but for us.”
September 2014 was the last time Scotland made this crucial decision about its future relationship with Westminster and the rest of the UK. On that day 85 per cent of registered Scottish voters turned out and narrowly decided to remain. Fifty-five per cent of Scots opted to stay put while 44.7 per cent opted to leave.
Then First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party Alex Salmond resigned from both posts a few months later. He staked his reputation and job on getting the right result, which he did not.
Pundits, commentators, and even members of the SNP are wary of having a second referendum so soon. They say that if it were to fail that there may not be a third one for a long time.
Marie Penman, an SNP councillor in Fife, the third largest council in Scotland told the Guardian that she is concerned Scottish voters will be too put off by Brexit and Trump to make the jump for independence.
“If they lose it, that is it dead in the water. That is it finished. It would never happen again in our lifetime,” she said.
Add in the economic uncertainly of decreasing oil prices and some of the allure from the first referendum seems to have dissipated.
A poll published this morning by Opinium and the Observer found that 45 per cent of Scots believe the country would vote to leave the UK given a second vote.
Yesterday former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has suggested that the UK become a federal state, delegating more powers to each of the four countries. For example, the Scottish government would take control over its farms and fisheries as well as welfare responsibilities and taxation.
He called this a “patriotic” alternative to another yes or no referendum, which he believes will be divisive, like the vote over Brexit was.
“A new third option can unify our country and end the bitter and divisive yes-versus-no conflict that will continue to rip us apart,” he said.
