THE candidate tipped to become Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP deputy has said the party must get ready for a second referendum, but dodged the question of a date.
Economy Secretary Keith Brown was reacting to a call by one of his rivals for the deputy leadership, councillor Chris McEleny, to hold a fresh vote next year.
Amid bad-tempered divisions in the Yes movement, Mr McEleny this week became the first one of the trio vying for the position to take a clear stand on the timing.
Call vote on Scottish independence within 18 months, urges candidate for top SNP job
The leader of the SNP group in Inverclyde, he said Scotland could not afford to wait any longer while the UK government imposed a hard Brexit and other unwanted policies.
“That is why we should be independent and that is why I believe we should have a referendum on our independence within the next 18 months,” he said.
Activist Julie Hepburn, who is also running to be SNP depute leader, said in response: “We shouldn't bind ourselves to any strict time frame for holding an independence referendum, but look to go for it when we have the best chance of winning.”
Now Mr Brown, asked for his view on timing, has taken a similar non-committal line.
He said: “We've got to be ready before the next referendum is called.
“The party and its organisation has to be ready to campaign in that referendum and that's the task we face now - getting ready.
"That's why readiness is at the heart of my campaign - readiness for elections and referendums, readiness for campaigning. We need training for activists and we need to refresh our organisational structure, we need party HQ on a permanent campaigning footing.
“Whenever we go into any campaign what will matter will be our readiness - if we're not ready we won't win and I want to win. That's my message to SNP members - let's get ready."
New referendum split surfaces among SNP MPs
Mr McEleny, who got just over 3 per cent of members’ votes when he stood for the depute leadership in 2016, said he had received a great deal of support for his referendum position.
A vote for him in the contest should be read as a vote for a plebiscite next year, he said.
Pete Wishart, the SNP’s most senior MP, was forced to appeal for calm and unity at the weekend after being abused online for urging a “pragmatic” approach to a referendum.
He was called an “Etonian boot licker” after warning against a push for a fresh vote without clear public support, arguing a second defeat would set the Yes movement back “decades”.
Unionist campaign splits over Brexit and second referendum
However he was swiftly contradicted by his Westminster colleague Angus Brendan MacNeil.
The Western Isles MP said he wanted a referendum within 18 months and that, despite most Scots opposing one, “energy and enthusiasm will begin” once a date was set.
Ms Sturgeon called for a second referendum in March 2017 but “reset” her plans after the SNP lost a third of its MPs in the June election, and is due to update MSPs “on the precise timescale for offering people a choice over the country’s future” in the autumn.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel