NICOLA Sturgeon took on a BBC Breakfast presenter on Wednesday morning as he pushed her to explain whether her government would go ahead with an illegal referendum.
The broadcaster’s Jon Kay asked if the First Minister would consider holding indyref2 if the Supreme Court rules Holyrood can not hold a vote without UK Government consent – although she had already explained repeatedly that she would not take this path.
If the court makes that decision, the SNP will use the next General Election as a de-facto independence referendum.
But despite these steps being explained in her statement and in the media since, Kay pushed the First Minister to explain whether she would go ahead with the kind of ballot described as “wildcat” by Douglas Ross.
“If you lost in the Supreme Court, and they say you can’t call a referendum without the UK Government agreeing to it, what happens then?” he asked. “Would you consider having a referendum, going it alone, having an advisory referendum or vote of some kind?”
Sturgeon scoffed at the journalist. “I would have hoped before interviewing me this morning you would have actually read what I said yesterday,” she told him.
As he began to interrupt her, the SNP chief responded: “No, no, no, no, no, no.
“Can you please listen to me? Because if you read what I said yesterday you would know the answer to that question.
“What we are proposing is just actually as it was in 2014. A consultative, advisory referendum. That’s what referendums are in the UK.
“What we are seeking through the reference to the Supreme Court is to establish whether the Scottish Parliament can lawfully hold even an advisory referendum. I am not going to move forward with a referendum that is unlawful.”
She added that she had made clear that the General Election would be the next path to indyref2 if the Supreme Court rules Holyrood cannot pursue a vote, “because people cannot be blocked from having their say”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Sturgeon contrasted her desire for a “lawful” second vote on Scottish independence with the Prime Minister “breaking the law” by reneging on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Sturgeon agreed with the Prime Minister when he said Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have started the “crazy, macho” war in Ukraine if he were a woman.
Speaking after the G7 summit in Bavaria, Johnson told German broadcaster ZDF: “If Putin was a woman, which he obviously isn’t, but if he were, I really don’t think he would’ve embarked on a crazy, macho war of invasion and violence in the way that he has.
“If you want a perfect example of toxic masculinity, it’s what he’s doing in Ukraine.”
Asked about the PM’s comments, Sturgeon told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that “Putin is a war criminal and a war monger”, adding “toxic masculinity is very much part and parcel of that, so I agree with that”.
She continued: “I also do perhaps unusually agree with Boris Johnson that the world would be a better place if there more women in positions of leaders.
“Not that women don’t make mistakes but I do think women tend to bring perhaps a bit more common sense and emotional intelligence and more of a reasoned approach to decisions.
“Take the difference between me and Boris Johnson on the big matters of the constitution. He is breaking the law to renege on the Northern Ireland Protocol, I am being very clear that any vote on independence has to be lawful.
“More women in leadership would be a good thing, including in the UK, so maybe it is another reason why he should do the right thing and step aside.”
