SNP to name new 'triggers' that it claims would lead to a second referendum
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...manifesto.html
Nicola Sturgeon: SNP to name conditions for second independence referendum in 2016 manifesto
Scotland's First Minister confirms the SNP will specify what could trigger another indyref for Scottish Parliament elections next year
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daily Telegraph
Nicola Sturgeon has revealed she could attempt to force David Cameron to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence. Scotland’s First Minister and SNP leader said for the first time she will spell out the conditions for what would trigger another referendum in her party’s 2016 Holyrood election manifesto.
The SNP will reportedly include Britain being taken into an “illegal war” among the reasons why a snap referendum could be called – though the party declined to confirm the suggestion. It comes despite Ms Sturgeon saying last year’s referendum was a “once in a generation” moment and means a second vote could be held before 2021. Last September, Scotland voted to remain within the United Kingdom by 55 per cent to 45 per cent – a result which the Prime Minister called “decisive”. However the result triggered a surge in support for the SNP, which led to the party taking 56 of Scotland’s 59 seats at the general election.
The party is now under pressure from the tens of thousands of new members to seek a mandate for a second independence referendum at the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2016. “Our manifesto will set out what we think around the circumstances in which, and the possible timescales in which, a second referendum might be appropriate,” Ms Sturgeon told the Sunday Herald. “It will then be down to people to accept whether they vote for that manifesto.” The comments are a change in position from the election, when Ms Sturgeon repeatedly refused to say whether the promise of another referendum would be in their 2016 Holyrood manifesto.
The focus is now likely to be on exactly what circumstances the SNP would argue that Scotland deserves another say on its position in the UK.
So far the party has named just one situation which could trigger another referendum – if Britain votes to leave the European Union in the forthcoming referendum while Scotland votes to stay in.
Alex Salmond has suggested the renewal of Trident nuclear weapons, failure to devolve more powers and “austerity to the max” are other possible triggers. The party will also say an “illegal war” would trigger another referendum, according to sources quoted in the Sunday Herald. An SNP spokesman declined to confirm or deny the claim. It comes with Mr Cameron strongly indicating he wants Britain to join American air strikes on Isil extremists in Syria. The Prime Minister has also come under pressure to publish legal guidance given before he ordered the RAF to take out two British jihadists in Syria with a drone strike.
In other words, anything they do not like can trigger a referendum.
But forget the Scottish National Party, they're just doing what they obviously can to achieve what they really want. The real villians in this are the fools in the Labour Party who brought in devolution which has created this ongoing and never ending constitutional mess. In addition, it didn't help in the referendum campaign with Labour and the Tories promising more powers to Holyrood which seems to have given the SNP the illusion that the United Kingdom is a confederate state rather than a unitary state: hence the "we can leave if the UK votes to leave the EU" - delusional.
All that said, it took two referendums to kill Quebec independence in Canada so maybe sooner or later it's worth driving the stake deeper.
Thoughts?
