LIBDEM leader Ed Davey is insistent that an SNP majority at next year’s Holyrood election wouldn't represent a mandate for indyref2.
The party chief claimed that it was up to Westminster to decide Scotland’s future.
He was questioned about the prospect of a Scottish independence referendum if the SNP were to secure a landslide victory in 2021, as recent polls suggest they are on track to do.
“I don’t accept that because they need to make sure they’ve got the votes in the House of Commons and I was elected to this House on a mandate to oppose a second referendum,” Davey told ITV Border.
Asked if he believes Westminster should ignore the will of the Scottish people, Davey added: “No … what I’m saying is to get that mandate you need to persuade people at Westminster and at Holyrood.”
WATCH: Keir Starmer accepts SNP majority is mandate for indyref2
SNP MP Douglas Chapman responded on Twitter, posting: "The (Un)Liberal Democrats at it again. They may have stood opposing #indyref2, but they only returned *checks notes* 4 Scottish MPs, with their leader being given the boot in the process.
"Whereas @theSNP returned *checks notes again* 48 MPs. Simple democracy at work."
SNP colleague Angus MacNeil added: "This is astonishing gob smacking imperialism ... very minor party Lib Dem MP from England thinks he can dictate what can be a mandate in Scotland. Is he off his head??"
This is astonishing gob smacking imperialism ..very minor party Lib Dem MP from England thinks he can dictate what can be a mandate in Scotland. Is he off his head?? https://t.co/EekfXvGxRt
— Angus B MacNeil MP (@AngusMacNeilSNP) September 24, 2020
The LibDem leader’s hardline Unionist comments come the day after Labour chief Keir Starmer softened his stance on indyref2.
In January, he said that an SNP majority would provide a mandate for a second plebiscite. Since then, Starmer had sought to distance himself from those comments.
But yesterday, pressed on Sky News about his position, Starmer stated: "Well these issues are questions for Scotland. I do stand by that."
An SNP spokesperson said: “These ridiculous comments just remind everyone that there is literally no point to the Liberal Democrats.
"They are a nothing party with a nothing policy platform. For hundreds of years philosophers debated whether a true vacuum can really exist - then along came the Lib Dems.”
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