SNP bid to use general election as 'de facto' referendum 'won't work'

2023-07-03

SNP leader Humza Yousaf’s plan to turn the general election into a ‘de facto’ Scottish independence vote ‘probably’ won’t work, admits one of his party’s senior MPs

Pete Wishart says bid to force UK break-up with election win unlikely to succeed

SNP leader Humza Yousaf’s plan for Scottish independence ‘probably’ won’t work, his party’s longest-serving MP has admitted.

Pete Wishart, who has been an SNP MP since 2001, conceded the party’s bid to turn the general election into a ‘de facto’ independence referendum was unlikely to be successful.

Mr Wishart insisted there was a ‘chance’ that Scotland could break away from the UK in the next five years.

But he acknowledged the ‘easy route’ to Scottish independence had ‘all but been closed down’.

Since succeeding Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader in March, Mr Yousaf has told party members that securing an agreement with Westminster for another independence referendum remains the party’s ‘Plan A’.

But, at an independence convention in Dundee last month, the new First Minister also insisted the SNP would have a ‘mandate’ to ‘negotiate our independence’ if they win the general election in Scotland.

He said the party’s manifesto would include the promise: ‘Vote SNP for Scotland to become an independent country.’

Pete Wishart, who has been an SNP MP since 2001, conceded the party’s bid to turn the general election into a ‘de facto’ independence referendum was unlikely to be successful

Humza Yousaf, pictured campaigning in Blantyre on Saturday, has said securing an agreement with Westminster for another independence referendum remains the SNP’s ‘Plan A’

But the new First Minister has also insisted the SNP would have a ‘mandate’ to ‘negotiate our independence’ if they win the general election in Scotland

Mr Wishart insisted there was a ‘chance’ that Scotland could break away from the UK in the next five years. But he acknowledged the ‘easy route’ had ‘all but been closed down’

Mr Yousaf later clarified that a majority of seats in Scotland would be enough to constitute a victory at the general election, expected next year.

But Mr Wishart, speaking prior to the June’s convention, cast doubt on the SNP’s hopes of success as he referenced Ms Sturgeon’s approach prior to her resignation as party leader.

This saw her propose the general election as a ‘de facto referendum’, targeting 50 per cent plus one of the vote.

Speaking to Holyrood magazine, Mr Wishart said: ‘My proposal is that we look at every election as a referendum.

‘With the first line of an SNP manifesto saying that if we secure the majority of the votes in this election, Scotland is determined to become an independent country.

‘We would need 50 per cent plus one of all that vote. Would the UK accept it? Probably not.

‘But we are not responsible for how the UK responds to these situations and what we will have done is demonstrate to the UK and the world that Scotland has decided to be an independent nation.

‘And whether that elicits some sort of positive response from the UK, I don’t know, but they might actually go ‘oh, alright, you’ve done it’, and it will move things forward.’

The Perth and North Perthshire MP added: ‘I think there is a chance we will be independent in the next five years, but I think we have got to accept the position that we find ourselves in just now.

‘The easy route out of all of this was an agreed referendum, but that has all but been closed down.

‘I am at a point where I have accepted the “no” from the UK Government for now and I think that they are serious when they say that.

‘So that route has gone, and we now have to start to try and be creative and different about how we try and secure this agreed referendum.’

Source: Read Full Article