Nicola Sturgeon hinted she could get into bed with Jeremy Corbyn and Labour to help her secure a second referendum on Scottish independence, it was claimed today.
Scotland’s First Minister said yesterday that Scots should be given the opportunity to vote again before the next Holyrood elections in 2021 – if Brexit goes ahead.
Delaying an referendum for two years is a tacit admission that Theresa May will not let her have one while she is in power.
But the First Minister has suggested Mrs May will have been replaced by the time indyref2 can be organised, and by then Jeremy Corbyn could be in No 10 and she will be ready if he gives her the powers she needs.
A senior Scottish Tory source said: ‘She is hoping for a minority Jeremy Corbyn government which she can do a deal with, with the price being a referendum.’
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon could try to convince Jeremy Corbyn to try agree a second referendum – as Theresa May and the Tories stand in her way
The SNP leader said she would try to pass plans for a second referendum into law by the end of the year – and dared Theresa May to stop Scotland voting on it again.
Speaking in Edinburgh Mrs Sturgeon argued the current Brexit deadlock at Westminster makes indyref2 necessary, five years after she lost the last one.
Theresa May believes the matter of Scottish independence has been dealt with in 2014
She said: ‘A choice between Brexit and a future for Scotland as an independent European nation should be offered in the lifetime of this Parliament.
‘I can confirm that the Scottish Government will act to ensure that the option of giving people a choice on independence later in this term of Parliament is progressed.’
Scots voted against independence 55 per cent to 45 per cent in a 2014 referendum billed as a once-in-generation poll, but the SNP say that Brexit has forced them to tear-up up their pledge and try again.
Theresa May has said ‘now is not the time’ for a fresh vote on Scottish independence while last month Jeremy Hunt said she would ‘of course’ block a new vote via a ‘section 30 order’ – needed by the Holyrood parliament to call a legally binding referendum.
In October 2018, polling found Scots would vote for independence if the UK crashes out of the EU with No Deal – but would vote against breaking up the Union in other circumstances.
The First Minister yesterday told MSPs that another vote on Scotland’s future ‘should be offered in the lifetime of this parliament’.
But Scottish Secretary David Mundell said any demand for the power to hold another referendum before the May 2021 Holyrood elections would be rejected by Westminster – with Downing Street saying that the result of the 2014 referendum, when 55 per cent of Scots voted to remain as part of the UK, should be respected.
His warning came as business leaders raised renewed concerns about fresh constitutional uncertainty further damaging Scotland’s ailing economy.
Mr Mundell said: ‘I’m very disappointed that Nicola Sturgeon continues to obsess about independence. We had a referendum in 2014, we were told that was going to be a once in a generation event, people in Scotland voted decisively to remain in the United Kingdom and as far as I’m concerned that is where the matter rests.
‘Clearly, she hasn’t made a request for a Section 30 order, which is the power to hold a referendum. Nicola Sturgeon appears to recognise that without the agreement of the UK Government she can’t hold a referendum. I’m very clear that agreement won’t be forthcoming before 2021. So it’s not clear to me what she sought to achieve today other than clogging up Holyrood’s time with discussion about independence.
‘The people of Scotland would rather it was concentrating on the education system, jobs and the health service.’
Asked what would happen if Miss Sturgeon requests a Section 30 order, he said: ‘The UK Government will say no.’
Miss Sturgeon told MSPs Brexit remained a ‘dark cloud’ over Scotland despite the UK’s exit being put back until October, and claimed a ‘choice between Brexit and a future for Scotland as an independent European nation should be offered to people’.
She will introduce legislation to set the rules for any referendum, which she intends to progress through Holyrood this year.
It came as former SNP MP Natalie McGarry admitted embezzling more than £25,600 from pro-Scottish independence organisations.
Recent polling found that Scots would vote for independence if the UK crashes out of the EU with no Brexit deal, but they would back to stay in the UK if a vote was held in other circumstances
But Scottish Tory interim leader Jackson Carlaw called the plan ‘frankly absurd’ and Scottish Labour chief Richard Leonard warned: ‘Leaving the UK would lead to unprecedented austerity for Scotland’s public services’.
The First Minister said Westminster has failed to protect Scotland’s interests and so the Scottish Government is taking steps to rectify that.
Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘Throughout this, the Scottish Government have worked tirelessly to help find the best way forward for all of the UK.
‘Whatever Scotland’s constitutional status in the future, it will always be in our interests for these islands to have the closest possible relationship with the EU.
‘We have done everything possible to help avert the Brexit crisis for the whole UK. And we will continue to do so.’
She added: ‘The Westminster system of government does not serve Scotland’s interests.
‘And the devolution settlement, in its current form, is now seen to be utterly inadequate to the task of protecting those interests.’
Wednesday’s statement was the ‘first available opportunity’ for the First Minister to update MSPs since the EU granted a six-month extension to the Article 50 Brexit process.
A Number 10 spokesman said on Tuesday that Theresa May’s stance on the issue of a second Scottish referendum ‘has not changed’ – with the PM having previously made clear her opposition to such a ballot.
Scottish Conservative interim leader Jackson Carlaw said: ‘Whatever the First Minister says about being ‘inclusive’, her statement is inherently divisive.
‘Astonishingly, the way Nicola Sturgeon thinks we can come together is for Scotland to be plunged into another divisive referendum within the next 18 months.
‘That is frankly absurd. The SNP’s plan is clearly to divide families, workplaces and communities all over again, and for the foreseeable future. That is not what the majority of Scotland wants.
‘People have had enough of constitutional politics and division. Yet, with the SNP, more of this is now inevitable.’
Nigel Farage during a walkabout and rally in Clacton, Essex, for his Brexit Party rally, as MPs continue to fail to agree on a deal to leave the EU
Nicola Sturgeon could stage another vote on independence, a section 30 order transferring the powers needed to hold such a ballot from Westminster would be needed for it to be legally binding
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon is using her office as First Minister to put the interests of the SNP before the interests of our country.
‘Her statement is not about Brexit, this is about Nicola Sturgeon trying to pacify her party members and backbenchers ahead of the SNP’s conference.
‘The chaos of Brexit throws into sharp relief the challenges of leaving a political and economic union.
‘Leaving the UK would lead to unprecedented austerity for Scotland’s public services.
‘The political dividing line in Scotland is clear: investment with Labour with a focus on fixing our public services and economy or another decade of austerity with the SNP and the Tories with a focus on divisive and destructive nationalism.’
Scottish Tories failed with a bid to block the debate. But last night it emerged that Theresa May is prepared to reject any new demand made by the SNP government for the power to hold another referendum.
The Scottish Parliament Bureau confirmed that it has approved a change to Holyrood business to allow a statement by Miss Sturgeon this afternoon, followed by an hour of questions from MSPs.
The Scottish Tories had argued that she should instead focus on priorities such as health, education and schools. The party’s chief whip Maurice Golden said: ‘We want to move on from the SNP’s constitutional grandstanding and get back to the things that matter to the people of Scotland.’
In 2017, Mrs May rejected the First Minister’s demand for a ‘Section 30 order’ to hold a second independence referendum.
Scottish Tory interim leader Jackson Carlaw called the plan ‘frankly absurd’ and Scottish Labour chief Richard Leonard warned: ‘Leaving the UK would lead to unprecedented austerity for Scotland’s public services’
Asked what her response would be to any new demand, her spokesman said: ‘You know the Prime Minister’s position on that and it has not changed.
‘First and foremost, let’s wait and see what the First Minister says.’
UK Government sources insisted the Prime Minister and her Cabinet were of the view the matter ‘had been dealt with’.
One source said: ‘We’ve have been saying for some time now the First Minister should take the threat of another referendum off the table.
‘If the First Minister fails do that we will repeat that message loud and clear.’
Miss Sturgeon’s spokesman said that her cabinet yesterday backed her plan after a ‘very full update’.