ALEX Cole-Hamilton was left squirming after being asked if Scotland had a democratic route to gaining independence from the UK.
During an appearance on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, the Scottish LibDem leader boldly claimed that voters “don’t care” about independence.
It came after presenter Martin Geissler quizzed Cole-Hamilton about whether the UK remained a voluntary union if there was no clear route to Scotland gaining independence.
“Is this a voluntary union that we’re in at the moment?” asked Geissler.
“Of course it’s a voluntary union,” replied Cole-Hamilton.
Geissler then asked what the democratic route out of the UK was.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton tells The Sunday Show that voters on the doorsteps "don't care" about a second independence vote. Read more ➡️ https://t.co/BnQ3kizyjr pic.twitter.com/aCORbV4eKk
— BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) June 2, 2024
“The reason I’ve not talked about independence is because literally nobody on the doorsteps is talking to me about it,” said the LibDem leader.
“They don’t care”.
Geissler then pointed out that polls show around 50% of Scots being consistently in favour of independence and pressed Cole-Hamilton for an answer.
He said: “Really important question, really simply question: If we are not being held in this union against our will, what is the democratic exit route?”
Cole-Hamilton said: “We don’t believe there should be a second referendum and ultimately, though, this is a voluntary union.
“It’s not that there’s no way out. It’s not salient to people right now. People want to talk about getting access to a GP at the first time of asking, or NHS dentists in their locality, taking sewage out of our rivers and lifting up Scottish education to where it used to be.”
Growing frustrated with Cole-Hamilton avoiding the question, Geissler said: “You’re not answering my question at all.
“I’m trying to give you space to answer it but you’re just refusing to answer it.
“What is the democratic route out of this voluntary union?”
Cole-Hamilton then claimed it would be “arrogant” for unionist parties to detail exactly how Scotland could exit the union.
He said: “I’m not going to sort of hypothecate a written constitution that doesn’t exist in terms…I mean part of it, it would be quite arrogant for a political party to say ‘Britain needs a constitution and here you are guys, here’s one we made earlier.
“I think we need to do all of that in consultation with the people that send us to parliament.”
Geissler replied: “It’s a problem that, isn’t it? You haven’t answered the question.”
Cole-Hamilton then accused Geissler of “fighting the General Election of 2019 all over again”.
Geissler said he was simply trying to get a “straight answer”.
