THE First Minister has called for a Northern Irish-style trigger for a border poll to be used for a Scottish independence vote.
Speaking to the Holyrood Sources podcast, John Swinney said that the success of Scottish independence was reliant on a strong SNP showing in next year’s Holyrood election.
He also spoke about the subject during an interview with Good Morning Scotland earlier this week, saying delivering independence was an “urgent priority”.
Prior to the General Election, Labour backed criteria being established which would trigger an Irish border poll.
However, the UK Government has remained quiet on the issue since Labour’s election win on July 4, with Northern Ireland minister Fleur Anderson suggesting a poll was “not a priority”.
Speaking on the podcast, Swinney pointed to an acceptance that an Irish border poll could potentially take place under set out circumstances, but that no mechanism exists for Scottish independence.
The UK Supreme Court previously ruled that Holyrood could only hold a referendum with Westminster’s consent.
Swinney said: “If you take in the context of Northern Ireland, for example, there is an accepted point that there is a route by which this issue is addressed.
“If there is an acceptance that there is a route by which this can be addressed for Northern Ireland, there has to be an acceptance of a route for Scotland – that cannot be resisted.
“That is just a logical, democratic consistency that cannot be sustained.”
Swinney added that he was not “pontificating about the route” but stated that “cannot be accepted in Northern Ireland and automatically rejected” for Scotland.
The First Minister said “the hard reality of life” was that “nothing ever happens on the constitutional question unless the SNP is doing really well”.
He said: “We’ve got to get people to buy into an inspiring vision of independence and see voting SNP as the means to catalyse that and to make it happen.
“These are issues that we’ve got to consider about how we progress, but fundamentally it will only come when there is political impetus behind the campaign for independence.
“You will only deny democracy if you are not prepared to embrace what we now see as growing levels of support for Scottish independence as expressed in a consistent set of polls at a higher level that’s been the case for a considerable amount of time.”
Swinney further added that independence "will only come about, whatever discussion we have about routes and process, when there's an emphatic desire for Scottish independence".
“We inspire people to believe in that concept of independence and why that will have a transformative affect on our lives," he said.
“That’s got to be at the heart of how we promote the arguments for independence, how we use those international comparisons, how we demonstrate good governance within Scotland, how we show people that there are many good things that can be done in Scotland and there are many more things that could be done that are good for Scotland if we had the powers of independence.”
