NICOLA Sturgeon yesterday compared Boris Johnson to a “tim’rous beastie” and said his opposition to indyref2 comes from being frightened of democracy.
The First Minister quoted from the celebrated poem To a Mouse by Robert Burns when she appeared on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday morning.
Asked by journalist Marr for her view on the Prime Minister’s comments that there should not be another referendum until 40 years after the 2014 vote, she said: “It’s Robert Burns’s birthday tomorrow and our annual Burns day, and when I hear Boris Johnson talk about this, I bring to mind a Burns poem: ‘cowrin tim’rous beastie, oh what a panic’s in thy breastie’. He’s frightened of democracy.
“The polls now show that a majority of people in Scotland want independence. If the SNP win the Scottish election in a few months’ time on a proposition of giving the people a choice, then what democrat could rightly stand in the way of that?
“Boris Johnson clearly just fears the verdict and the will of the Scottish people.”
The First Minister was then asked if she would hold an advisory “home-made Scottish referendum” if the SNP win the upcoming elections.
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She said: “I want to have a legal referendum, that’s what I’m going to seek the authority of the Scottish people for in May. And if they give me that authority that’s what I intend to do.”
She continued: “That’s democracy, it’s not about what I want or about what Boris Johnson wants, it’s about what the people of Scotland want and the increasing evidence is that they want independence.”
In a new plan for indyref2 – revealed exclusively by The National on Saturday – the SNP said if it wins the election in May and there is a pro-independence majority it will again ask for a Section 30 order.
However, if the UK Government does not agree to the transfer of powers, the Scottish Government would press on with legislation in Holyrood to hold a second independence referendum.
The SNP said it would then be up to the UK Government to either “agree that the Scottish Parliament already has the power to legislate for a referendum” or “agree the Section 30” or “take legal action to dispute the legal basis of the referendum and seek to block the will of the Scottish people in the courts”.
Michael Russell, the Scottish Government’s Constitution Secretary, presented the 11-point document to the party’s National Assembly forum yesterday.
A Section 30 order – part of the Scotland Act 1998 which allows Holyrood to pass laws normally reserved to Westminster – was granted by the UK Government ahead of the 2014 vote.
As the roadmap document was published, Russell said: “I firmly believe that Scotland’s referendum must be beyond legal challenge to ensure legitimacy and acceptance at home and abroad.
“This is the surest way by far to becoming an independent country.
“The referendum should be held after the pandemic, at a time to be decided by the democratically elected Scottish Parliament. The SNP believes that should be in the early part of the new term.”
He continued: “Today I am setting out how I believe that right can be secured, and I welcome the discussion that will take place around this idea and others.
“But what is absolutely not for discussion is the fact that if Scotland votes for a legal referendum on May 6 this year, that is what it will get.
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“The SNP Scottish Government will deliver such a referendum if re-elected and the proposals I am putting forward make that very clear.”
A series of polls published yesterday found voters across the UK believe Scotland is likely to become independent within the next decade – while more than half of those in Northern Ireland want a referendum on a united Ireland in the next five years.
The Sunday Times commissioned the surveys across the four nations of the United Kingdom to gauge attitudes towards the Union.
In Scotland, the poll found 49% backed independence compared to 44% against – a margin of 52% to 48% if the undecideds are excluded.
With crucial elections to the Scottish Parliament coming up in May, the poll found the SNP way ahead on 70% – up seven points since the last elections in 2016 – while the Tories were down six points on 25%, with Labour down five points on 19%.
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