The “biggest ever political listening exercise” to gauge public support for a second independence referendum Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced on Friday is really an admission of weakness.
Advertisement
Ms Sturgeon, who knows she can not demand a new vote unless she is certain of a win, said recent polls had shown increased backing for leaving the United Kingdom and added: “I suspect support for independence will be even higher if it becomes clear it is the best or only way to protect our interests”.
Nicola Sturgeon has pledged not to “duck the tough issues” that an independent Scotland would face as she launched a fresh push to convince Scottish voters that they should leave the UK.
It comes after Scotland voted largely in favour of remaining in the European Union, while much of England and Wales voted to leave.
In order to measure public interest in revisiting the independence question, the Scottish National Party (SNP) plans to conduct research to measure public opinion on the topic by conducting doorstep interviews and surveys with two million of Scotland’s 5.3 million population by the end of November.
“We want to understand in detail how people feel now about Europe, Brexit and independence”.
He stated: ” We’ve got a set of problems in Scotland, the underfunding of the NHS, a crisis in GP provision, the educational attainment gap growing, she (Ms Sturgeon) should be in my view getting on with those bread and butter issues rather than worrying about another independence referendum.
“We are determined to build an economy where everyone has a fair chance to contribute to growth and where everyone can share in the benefits of growth”.
“This summer, we witnessed seismic changes, which will have a deep impact on our ambition for this country”, Ms Sturgeon told an SNP gathering in Stirling.
The prospect of leaving the European Union has disgruntled many Scots – including some of those who voted “no” to an independent Scotland two years ago because they feared independence would mean losing European Union membership.
An extract from the book about SNP leaders, written by Mandy Rhodes and published in a Sunday newspaper, says Ms Sturgeon originally chose not to talk about it publicly.
Mrs May has spoken out against Scottish independence and promised to involve Scotland in negotiations on Britain’s future relationship with the EU.
Although Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have all vowed to oppose this, the minority SNP administration could see a referendum Bill passed if it is backed by the Scottish Greens.
However, she added: “Of course, many copies of Scotland’s Future were signed and handed out in the run-up to the 2014 referendum”.
Sturgeon has said that the government was already working on
Ms Sturgeon’s SNP formed a minority government after winning 63 seats in May’s Scottish Parliament elections.
“Nicola Sturgeon has shown time and again that she is prepared to ignore the priorities of the people of Scotland to pursue her narrow minded agenda”.
Scots voted “no” to independence in 2014 by 10 percentage points, but the swell of excitement from the campaign galvanised the SNP.
Advertisement
The party has also urged ministers to address what it called the housing “crisis”, saying official figures show the budget for housing and community amenities has been cut by £338 million since Ms Sturgeon became First Minister.
