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Nicola Sturgeon does not want an independence referendum, according to a Tory former Scottish secretary, but is using it to distract from her “abysmal” record. Lord Forsyth of Drumlean said the First Minister and SNP leader would only want a vote when she was sure she could win it, and he claimed support was on the decline. He also criticised Boris Johnson s failure to travel north of the border and make the case for the Union. Mr Johnson s conspicuous absence was queried numerous times in the run up to the recent election to the Scottish Parliament. Lord Forsyth made the comments as peers continued to debate the Queen’s Speech, which set out the Government’s legislative programme.
Nigel Farage and supporters celebrate the Brexit referendum result in 2016. Brexit went through on a 52 per cent vote for Leave. PETER A Russell (Letters, May 12) claims that “there is therefore a cast-iron case to offer voters a confirmatory vote when the outcome of new independence negotiations are concluded”. Perhaps he is unaware of the recent statement by Ciaran Martin, former constitution director at the UK Government’s Cabinet Office, that in those circumstances, following a Yes vote, “the temptation is for the UK Government to negotiate extremely brutally. If that has the desired effect that’s a pretty bad situation for a part of the UK to feel that it wants to leave, as it voted to become independent, but because of a punitive approach from London it’s decided with great reluctance to stay. That’s not the basis for a harmonious union.”
PERHAPS those of us of a unionist persuasion are too negative about the result of another referendum on independence. The much-vaunted SNP achieved 50 per cent of the Scottish vote in the General Election of 2015. Research on Google suggests that that was its zenith. In 2014, more than 55 per cent voted for the Union; in 2016, 47% voted for separatist parties; in 2017 37% of Scots voted for the SNP, and in the 2019 General Election, 54% of Scottish votes were for Unionist parties. Nicola Sturgeon has admitted that no up-to-date research has been carried out on the economic outcome of independence. Perhaps now is the time for Boris Johnson to give the SNP its wish, and thereafter let us get on with living our lives in a United Kingdom.
CLAIM “Tories claim Nicola Sturgeon s four-day week plan for Scotland would cost taxpayers £3 billion A YEAR as part of an SNP election manifesto fantasy wish list ” – Daily Mail headline, April 17, 2021.
DOORSTEP ANSWER The SNP ARE spending £4 million – not £3bn – on a pilot experiment to see if a four-day week is feasible. Similar studies in England vindicate the idea. Opinion polls in the UK show a four-day week is very popular.
SNP’S FOUR-DAY WEEK EXPERIMENT Following the publication of the SNP Holyrood manifesto on April 16, Douglas Ross and the Scottish Tories claimed that the SNP planned to introduce a four-day working week in the public sector, and that this would cost the taxpayer an extra £3bn in taxes. The obvious first point is that the SNP manifesto does not propose the immediate introduction of a mandatory four-day working week after the May 6 Holyrood election or even after Scottish independence.