It took Boris Johnson just one month to boot out calls for a second Scottish independence referendum.
The Prime Minister wrote to Nicola Sturgeon today rejecting her plea for transfer of power from the UK Parliament to the Scottish Parliament to allow for further independence referendums.
He said “you and your predecessor made a personal promise that the 2014 Independence Referendum was a “once in a generation” vote”.
Adding: “Another independence referendum would continue the political stagnation that Scotland has seen for the last decade”.
“Terrified of Scotland having the right to choose our own future”
Ms Sturgeon said the PM’s stance was “not surprising” as she claimed the Tories were “terrified of Scotland having the right to choose our own future”.
“They know that given the choice the overwhelming likelihood is that people will choose the positive option of independence,” she said.
“The Tories – and their allies in the leaderships of Labour and the Lib Dems – lack any positive case for the union so all they can do is try to block democracy.
“It shows utter contempt for the votes, views and interests of the people of Scotland and it is a strategy that is doomed to failure.”
Not politically sustainable
The First Minister added: “It is not politically sustainable for any Westminster Government to stand in the way of the right of the people of Scotland to decide their own future and to seek to block the clear democratic mandate for an independence referendum.
“The problem for the UK Government is that the longer they try to block a referendum, the more they demonstrate that the Westminster union is not a partnership of equals and the more support for independence will grow.”
Demands for a second independence referendum have been mounting since the Brexit vote in 2016, with Scotland now facing leaving the EU at the end of this month despite almost two-thirds of voters north of the border having backed Remain.
Ripped from the EU against our will
Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the pro-independence Scottish Green Party, said: “It is absolutely appalling that we are to be ripped from the EU against our will and utterly undemocratic that we are being denied a say on our future.”
Pamela Nash, chief executive of the pro-UK campaign group Scotland in Union, called for Ms Sturgeon to “focus exclusively on her devolved responsibilities”, adding: “The majority of people in Scotland don’t want a divisive second independence referendum.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said his party was “on the side of the majority of people in Scotland do not want another independence referendum”.
He added: “What this country needs is a Government that is focused on delivering excellent public services and a federal UK that ensures that power is shared across the whole of the country.”
Read the letter in full below:
