TIME is up on the UK Government’s “spurious” self-imposed deadline for a second independence referendum, The National can reveal.
Despite ongoing protests from the Tories that “now is not the time”, former Scottish secretary David Mundell’s pledged before the 2017 General election to block indyref2 for five years – a date which has now passed.
An explosive Scottish Daily Mail front page from 2017 announced: “Tory pledge over second independence vote: We’ll block referendum for five years.”
As it re-emerged five years on, Kenneth Gibson (below), the SNP MSP for Cunninghame North, said: “The Tories’ bid to deny democracy in 2017 was as unacceptable then as it is now – but even by their own bogus timetable time’s up.”
The story ran the day before Britain went to the polls in an attempt to bolster the Tories’ position as defenders of the Union in an election which saw then prime minister Theresa May lose her party’s majority, paving the way for two years of chaos as MPs attempted to hash out a Brexit deal.
The EU referendum a year before, in which Scotland was dragged out of Europe against its will, renewed the case for independence after the Yes defeat in 2014.
Speaking five years ago, May told the Daily Mail voters who had previously backed other Unionist parties such as Labour or the LibDems should vote Tory to “send a message” to Nicola Sturgeon.
She added that the Tories’ opposition to even opening discussions about indyref2 “won’t change” after the results were counted.
The Tories also claimed that Jeremy Corbyn, then leader of the opposition, would need to rely on SNP MPs to prop up a Labour government in a “coalition of chaos”, a slogan to be revived come the next General Election, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Current Labour chief Keir Starmer will tomorrow rule out making deals with the SNP in a new effort to get on top of Tory attacks.
Earlier in 2017, May, who was ousted after her disastrous battles with her own party over Brexit, had justified the Tory position by saying ongoing negotiations with Brussels at the time meant the country’s focus should not be directed at indyref2.
Gibson, the SNP convener of Holyrood’s Finance Committee, added: “It’s not up to Theresa May, Boris Johnson or any UK prime minister – it is the democratic right of the people of Scotland to choose a better, fairer future.
“In last year’s Scottish election, the SNP was returned to government with a cast-iron mandate to hold an independence referendum during the term of this parliament and that is what the First Minister announced last Tuesday.
“Yet here we are, five years on, and the Trump-like Tories are still trying to deny democracy with spurious time limits because they are running scared of an independence referendum they know they will lose.”
Britain left the EU in January 2020 despite Scotland’s overwhelming support for continued membership of the bloc.
Brexit has “materially” changed the circumstances under which Scotland voted to remain part of the UK in 2014, the SNP have argued as part of their ongoing campaign to hold another referendum on the country’s future.
May was also quoted in 2017 as saying: “When the SNP government say that it’s the time to start talking about a new independence referendum, I say that just at this point, all our energies should be focused on our negotiations with the European Union about our future relationship.”
Despite completing Britain’s exit from the EU and the country coming out of the pandemic, the Conservatives continue to argue the time is not right for a second vote, with one Tory minister claiming earlier this year Scots would have to wait until 2039 until time was right for indyref2.
