ALISTER Jack has refused to explain how he believes the democratic will of the Scottish people can be realised.
The Scottish Secretary, who was accused of being "feart" of indyref2, would not even countenance the prospect of a future referendum on independence under questioning from SNP MPs.
That’s despite a 20th consecutive poll recently recording majority support for Yes.
Demanding clarity from the Tory minister, Mhairi Black pointed out the material changes in circumstances since 2014: Brexit, three Conservative prime ministers Scots didn’t vote for and a sustained majority support for independence.
She asked Jack in the Commons: “Given that he is the [self-proclaimed] ‘defender of democracy’, can I ask him, with that in mind, how can the people of Scotland secure that preferred choice of independence?”
READ MORE: Top European newspaper blasts Boris Johnson's approach to indyref2
The Scottish Secretary side-stepped the question, instead repeating Unionist claims about how disastrous independence would be for Scotland’s economy.
He pointed to the £8.6 billion in coronavirus support allocated by the UK Government to Holyrood before alleging that Scotland would have the largest deficit in Europe were it to leave the Union.
In fact, the Scottish Government runs an annual surplus and has done so every year from 2007 to 2019. Scotland only has a notional deficit if elements of endemic UK deficit are apportioned hypothetically to the normal Holyrood surplus, as happens in the annual Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) paper exercise.
READ MORE: FACT CHECK: Scotland’s 7% deficit – is it the worst in Europe?
Jack also alleged incorrectly that SNP economic adviser Andrew Wilson has said an independent Scotland would face “austerity like had never seen before”. The Scottish Secretary was seemingly referencing an Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis of the Growth Commission report, headed by Wilson.
Jack added: “I believe, as we focus on coming out of the pandemic, being all in the rowing boat together, pulling on the oars in these choppy waters is the best place for Scotland and the best for the United Kingdom.”
Shortly afterwards, the Scottish Tory MP was again pressed to answer the question about the democratic route to independence.
Pete Wishart asked: “Does [Jack] accept this is now what the Scottish people want? Twenty opinion polls in a row indicate that.
“How do the Scottish people democratically acquire the right to have what they want in a referendum?”
The Scottish Secretary again refused to answer the question, insisting “now is not the time” for a discussion about a second plebiscite.
Wishart, a former band member of Big Country and Runrig, appeared virtually in the Commons, with framed records hanging on the wall behind him.
Noting these, Jack claimed the Perthshire MP is “beginning to sound like a broken record”.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson's 'futile Union Jackery' visit to Scotland will risk lives, MP warns
Commenting afterwards, Black accused the Tories of "running scared".
She said: “If the Union is so strong – as Boris Johnson and the Tories claim – then why are they ‘feart’ to test that strength in another Scottish independence referendum? Why is he making an ‘essential’ trip to Scotland during the pandemic?
“There have now been 20 consecutive polls putting support for independence above 50%. People in Scotland believe they have the right to decide their own future - rather than being subjected to Westminster governments they don’t vote for, led by the likes of Boris Johnson. It is no wonder the Tories are running scared."
The Paisley and Renfrewshire South MP added: “It is astonishing that Alister Jack said today that the Conservative Party is the party that respects democracy – yet they continue to refuse a democratic referendum."
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