IAN Blackford has said the SNP has a “responsibility” to Scottish voters to deliver a second independence referendum in the current Holyrood parliament – and insisted they would do so.
The party’s Westminster leader said that the result of the election in May – which the SNP won, taking 64 of Holyrood’s 129 seats, and with the Greens’ seven MSPs making an independence majority – gave a mandate for a new vote on independence.
“We had an election in May. There is a clear majority for an independence referendum in the Scottish Parliament and it is about recognising we have that mandate, we have the backing of the people who went to the polls in May of this year and a responsibility we have to execute that mandate,” he said.
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“And as far as Westminster goes, it is about recognising democracy and it’s about recognising that people in Scotland have spoken.
“It’s only right that we have that discussion about what kind of country we want to live in, to have that vote on independence.
“My message to everyone, particularly in the independence movement, is that independence referendum will happen ... Let the Yes movement come together and let’s make sure we have that route to ensuring Scotland becoming an independent country.”
Blackford went on to underline a referendum will take place during the current Holyrood session as he stressed independence was essential for recovery from the economic effects of the Covid pandemic.
He was visiting a foodbank in Glasgow with some of the party’s parliamentarians amid a day of action to oppose the Conservative government’s planned cuts to Universal Credit.
A report published recently by the Joseph Rowntree Trust found that 63% of families with children would lose more than £1000 a year if Boris Johnson presses ahead with scrapping the £20 uplift to Universal Credit that was introduced in April last year in the early stages of the pandemic.
“We can’t trust Westminster to make sure our economy can recover,” he told The National.
“What we are really missing at the moment is the borrowing powers for Scotland because we want to make sure we accept our responsibilities in order to improve the economy, to deliver on our commitment on net zero and to make sure we can drive the investment into the economy and drive up living standards.
“Westminster has failed to do that. We have seen the austerity over the last 10 years.”
He said that “we need to be getting out and campaigning for independence” and referred to the appointment earlier this year of SNP president Michael Russell (below) to head up the party’s independence unit.
“The Scottish Government has a mandate for an independence referendum and that referendum will happen,” he said.
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Blackford, along with fellow SNP MPs Alison Thewliss and David Linden and SNP MSP Neil Gray, were visiting a food bank run by The Trussell Trust in Govanhill.
The facility is within Glasgow Central, where 63% of working-age families with children would lose £1034 per year should the cuts to Universal Credit go ahead in October.
Across Scotland, research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found 37% of working-age families with children would lose £1034 per year.
The foundation analysed which UK Parliament constituencies will be most affected by the cut.
Glasgow contains the three constituencies in which more than half of all families with children would be affected: Glasgow Central (63%), Glasgow South West (55%) and Glasgow North East (54%).
Among the constituencies in which more than four in 10 families with children will be affected are Dundee West (49%); Kirkaldy & Cowdenbeath (44%); Aberdeen North (42%) North Ayrshire & Arran (43%).
Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon has urged SNP members to back a deal with the Scottish Greens to “cement the pro-independence majority at Holyrood”. The SNP’s national executive committee has already rubber stamped the deal, but members are being given the chance for a consultative vote on the matter.
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