Nicola Sturgeon pledges second referendum as SNP lands election win

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to press ahead with plans for a second independence referendum after the Scottish National party won its fourth consecutive Holyrood election, triggering a constitutional battle with Boris Johnson.

After counting ended late on Saturday evening, the SNP won 64 seats, missing out on an overall majority by just one seat, after winning a record number of constituencies despite a surge in anti-independence tactical voting.

Sturgeon said Scottish voters had given Holyrood a clear mandate by electing a pro-independence majority larger than that in the last Holyrood parliament, with eight Green MSPs elected across Scotland’s regions. It was an “extraordinary” result, she said.
...
Sturgeon’s ability to control the timing and strategy on a referendum was secured after Alex Salmond’s attempt to win seats for his new hardline pro-independence Alba party failed; he was humiliated after Alba secured about 2% of the vote, with SNP voters failing to swing behind his demands for an immediate referendum campaign.



Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/08/nicola-sturgeon-second-independence-referendum-snp-scottish-elections-holyrood

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Overall, the SNP gained 3 constituency seats, but lost 2 regional seats; the Greens, the other significant pro-independence party, gained 2 regional seats.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c37d28xdn99t/scottish-parliament-election-2021

[Emrys]

1. I summarized the results in the UK Group

Here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/108820592

[dutch777]

2. In reading the articles, I don't see a clear indication of how soon an independence election

could be held. It may behoove Scotland to wait until Covid is in the rear view mirror. Brexit was disruptive enough but breaking up with Covid vaccination and other resource issues going into some unknown zone seems pretty risky. I wonder if Wales will follow Scotland? Boris J. certainly has bollixed things up for the UK.

[regnaD kciN]

3. BoJo The Clown has said it can't be until 2054...

...because the 2014 referendum was promised to be "the last for a generation" (of course, it was held under the claim that unity with the U.K. was the only way Scotland could stay in the EU, then Brexit happened and they found themselves being taken out of the EU without their consent), and he claims that, strangely, a "generation" is forty years.

[dutch777]

4. Will be interesting if the Scots run an election on their own and it goes against the UK

Will be quite the conundrum for BoJo and Scotland. Should it come to the point that Scotland, Wales and North Ireland all leave the UK and join the EU, Britain will really be odd man out.

[Emrys]

6. The phrasing used by the Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon was

"once-in-a-generation opportunity".

Johnson and his ilk always omit that last word. It was obviously intended as a motivating comment, not setting a timescale. Indeed the Smith Commission report - the post-referendum agreement drawn up between the UK political parties - specifies that nothing in its contents means that Scotland cannot seek independence at a future date.

Other politicians have used the phrase in a similar way, including Boris Johnson:

He said: “There is only one way to get Brexit done and that is to vote Conservative. Unfortunately, a vote for any other party simply risks Jeremy Corbyn and a coalition of chaos next year. We are fighting for every vote in this election and it is going to be a very tough election and very hard-fought.

“I think it will be close, I really do. That is why I urge everybody to get out to vote and get out to vote for us, because it is going to be very close. The only way to save Brexit and get it done is to vote for us.”

He added: “This is a critical once-in-a-generation election.

Nobody seems to have interpreted that as meaning there shouldn't be another election for 40 years or so.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. No one knows. I think Sturgeon has already said that Covid remains the priority.

I think she'll also want to wait to propose any referendum until the polls are more clearly in favour of winning it - recently, it's been pretty much a draw. The justification for holding it is that Brexit changed the conditions since the previous referendum; they wouldn't be able to use that again, so they need the next referendum to succeed.

No, I don't think Wales is likely to follow. Plaid Cymru, the Welsh independence party, has not been very successful electorally in the past few years.

[roamer65]

7. If Northern Ireland joins the R of I, it will give a BIG boost to Scottish independence.

Scotland will see the benefits of EU membership and leave the UK. If an independent referendum passes in Scotland, the talks for separation will be between three parties.

England, Scotland and the EU.