THE SNP have accused Ruth Davidson of “rewriting history” after she dodged a question about whether she believes the UK Government should agree to a second Scottish indpendence referendum.
During an appearance on The Andrew Marr Show yesterday, the Scottish Tory leader was asked whether it would be right for Westminster to block indyref2.
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Her reply was that Nicola Sturgeon had failed to ask for the powers to be granted to Holyrood to hold a referendum.
Davidson faced criticism last week after a BBC Scotland interview in which it emerged she had backtracked on her Section 30 stance. In 2016, Davidson said that the UK Government should not stand in the way of a second referendum.
However, last week, she said Theresa May should refuse a Section 30 order, as should the next Prime Minister.
“We know from the devolved settlement that issues of the constitution are reserved to Westminster, that’s plainly a fact,” she told Marr.
“After the last independence referendum, we had a big, broad discussion about what powers should lie where, and the SNP didn’t even ask for the powers to be devolved. So this is a new wheeze from Nicola Sturgeon that comes up every year with a different reason for what she wants to do.”
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Following the result of the Brexit vote, the MSP had told BBC Sunday Politics Scotland that while she thought a re-run of the referendum would be “incredibly premature”, she did not believe it should be completely denied as she is a “democrat”.
But on Monday last week, when Brian Taylor asked if a Section 30 order should be granted, Davidson replied: “I’ll say no, and this Prime Minister and the next prime minister should say so too."
A spokeswoman for the SNP said: “Ruth Davidson is guilty of the most appalling double standards, having previously said that the UK Government ‘shouldn’t block’ an independence referendum.
“Denying a No vote was based on the promise of staying in the EU. Just like David Mundell, she is attempting to rewrite history.
“Ms Davidson is running scared of an independence referendum – but she knows her party cannot indefinitely stand in the way of democracy.
“The hypocrisy of the Tories in Scotland hasn’t been lost on voters, as we see in recent polls. It’s clearer than ever that the Tories are ready to sell-out Scotland.”
In yesterday’s interview with Marr, Davidson also rejected suggestions that the Scottish Tories could break away from the UK party.
Writing in the Sunday Times, former Tory chairman Peter Duncan suggested that if Boris Johnson becomes the next prime minister, it could create an existential crisis for the party in Scotland.
He claimed that if Johnson wins the upcoming leadership election, it could open up a “chasm of epic proportions”.
But on the programme yesterday, Davidson said that revisiting a proposal put forward in 2011 by Murdo Fraser that the party could breakaway from the UK party, is not something that she would ever back.
“It’s within the gift of the party, but it’s nothing that I’ve ever supported,” the Scottish Tory leader said.
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