Ross and Rennie won't set out democratic route to indyref2

Ross, the Scottish Tory leader was asked twice by the BBC journalist this morning on the Andrew Marr show to set out the democratic route Scots could take to holding a second constitutional vote, but dodged the question and said he “doesn’t want” one to be held in the first place.

Meanwhile, Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie was also asked the same question and deflected, saying it was democratic for him to stand against a referendum at this election and that parliament should focus on recovery.

It comes as both party leaders were grilled on their EU policies - with Ross failing to point out any benefits of Brexit for Scotland, and Rennie was probed on UK LibDem leader Ed Davey’s comments that the party were no longer for rejoining the EU.

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But, issues around a second independence referendum were top of the agenda during the last Scottish leaders' interviews before election day on the Marr show.

First off, Ross was asked to set out a democratic route for a second referendum on Scotland’s constitution.

He said: “I’ve spoken to nationalists in this campaign when we’ve been out and about across Scotland, people in favour of a second independence referendum are not in favour of Nicola Sturgeon’s time scale, the fact that we could potentially have another referendum in the next couple of years.

Ross was also probed on Brexit and the impact for Scotland

“Nicola Sturgeon has said she’d be campaigning for that during our recovery, so even pro-independence supporters are saying we cannot risk our recovery and put our rebuilding efforts on the line while the nationalists take us through another damaging divisive independence referendum.”

Asked again by Marr what the democratic route to a second referendum is, Ross said: “There is an opportunity at this election to focus on recovery, to focus on rebuilding…”

When Marr interrupted the Scottish Tory leader to point out that didn’t answer the question, he said: “I don’t think anyone would expect the leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party to be suggesting that we should have another independence referendum, I don’t want that.

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“I want to focus on education, raising our educational standards that have plummeted over the SNP’s 14 years in power. I want to invest more in the NHS, I want to support businesses and protect jobs, that’s what we can do at this election if we get rid of the threat of another independence referendum.”

Ross also did not answer when asked if a pro-independence majority in Holyrood would guarantee a mandate for a second independence referendum, and instead deflected to the line that Scots wanting to stop a vote should vote for the Tories.

Lib Dem leader Rennie was also grilled on the issue by Marr, and asked what he thought the democratic route to a second referendum would be.

He said: “I think it’s very democratic that if I stand at a platform on an election campaign and say I don’t want another independence referendum that that’s exactly how I should vote because that’s what the people have voted for me for, that’s the essence of democracy.

Rennie was also quizzed on the constitutional question

“It would be bizarre if I did the opposite, so I’m not going to support it. The reason why I don’t support another independence referendum is because we saw what it was like last time, the divisions within society were deep and I don’t want it again.”

And, asked if the SNP, Greens and Alba formed a pro-independence majority in the next term of the Scottish Parliament, and if this would give a mandate for a vote, Rennie said: “Isn’t it a depressing prospect that we’ve got various factions of the nationalist movement arguing about the result of the election which hasn’t even happened yet.

“Lets focus on actually what this election is about and this is about whether we have a parliament that’s focussed on independence as they would want or whether we want a parliament that’s focussed on recovery.”

In the same interview, Ross and Rennie were quizzed on the European Union.

Ross was asked multiple times to set out how Brexit has been good for Scotland, but instead deflected to the vaccine scheme and redirected his answer on the perils of indyref2.

Rennie was also asked about his party's policy on rejoing the EU on Marr

He said: “We have certainly seen the biggest risk to the Scottish economy is another Scottish independence referendum because Nicola Sturgeon has been unable to tell us what the Scottish currency would be, what the border would be between Scotland and England.

“We do 60% of our trade with the rest of the United Kingdom which is why it’s so important we remain a strong integral part of the United Kingdom and all that is at risk in this election with the SNP, by the current polls, on course to get a majority, but there’s a way to stop that and that’s by voting Scottish Conservatives.”

Meanwhile, Rennie was asked why his party has dropped campaigning to rejoin the EU after UK Lib Dem leader Ed Davey comments earlier this year.

Asked if his party was no longer in favour of joining the EU, Rennie said: “I don’t think the Nationalists have learnt one single lesson from the Brexit experience, not one single one.

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“We had divisions right across the country, we’ve seen problems with businesses trading across the European Union, we’ve seen the issues in Northern Ireland and they’ve looked at that and said yeah, we want more of that.

“No, I think we should put the divisions of the past behind us, ofcourse I want to join the European Union, I want to be a member, we were the leading party across the United Kingdom against Brexit, we campaigned every single step of the way, but I accept that for the next five years we should focus on recovery, I accept that.”