NICOLA Sturgeon has suggested she could make a statement on a second independence referendum within days, once the current phase of Brexit negotiations settles.
The First Minister has said for several months that she hopes to update parliament on the timing of Indyref2 in “a few weeks”.
However at FMQs, she switched to a more compressed formula.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: Failing ScotRail in 'last chance saloon' after string of complaints
Government’s tax and spending plans for 2019-20">Mr Harvie says Scotland ‘needs the freedom to take a different direction’ (Jane Barlow/PA)
It followed pressure from Green MSP Patrick Harvie, who asked why Ms Sturgeon had still not delivered on her previous statement.
Citing the chaos over Brexit as a reason for independence, he said: “The First Minister told us that she would say something about her preferred timing within weeks.
“That was two months ago. I ask again, when?”
Mr Sturgeon she understood people’s frustration at Scotland’s future “being determined by the Democratic Unionist Party and a cabal of right-wing Tories”.
She went on: “I said that I would wait until the end of this phase of the Brexit negotiations before setting out my views on the way forward for Scotland.
“Having done so this long, I think that it is reasonable for me to wait to see what clarity emerges in the next few days, even if I suspect that it will just be clarity that there will be no clarity. I will then set out my views on the path forward.”
She also agreed with Mr Harvie that revoking Article 50 and cancelling Brexit would be better than a chaotic no deal.
Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie said Ms Sturgeon was wrong to believe”breaking up an economic partnership of 40 years will be chaotic but that breaking up one of 300 years will be a piece of cake”.
Ms Sturgeon's official spokesman later said she was "keen" to give an update on her thinking.
He said she was hoping for more clarity on Brexit "in the next week or 10 days or so", but refused to put a date - or even a month - on a statement.
He said: "The First Minister will give an update when we have a bt more clarity, but that's certainly not going to be in the next few days while the House of Commons is deliberating and potentially voting on things up until the 11th hour.
"The First Minister is not going to stand up in the middle of that when it's not clear where things are heading. What she says depends on where things end up.
"We're not going to have absolute clarity on everything but I would hope in the next week, 10 days or so we would have a bit more clarity than we have at the moment.
"I think it's fair to say the First Minister is keen to get on with things in terms of updating people on her thinking on the issue. Ideally that would have happened before now.
"But through no fault of ours the process has been caught up in the quagmire of everything we're witnessing."
Pressed for more details on timing, he said: "You will hear from the First Minister when you hear from the First Minister."
There is speculation at Holyrood that Ms Sturgeon may wait until the eve of the SNP conference on April 27 before giving an update.
The last time she called an independence referendum in March 2017 it was in the week before the SNP conference.
Pamela Nash, chief executive of the anti-independence group Scotland in Union, said: “Nicola Sturgeon is behaving irresponsibly and treating the Brexit crisis as an opportunity to promote her divisive agenda, rather than behaving like a First Minister prepared to bring the country together.
“If the Brexit process has taught us anything, it has proved how incredibly difficult it is to leave a union of nations. Leaving the UK would be massively more complicated, would be eight times worse for our economy, and would lead to deeper austerity and higher taxes.
“Whatever your views on Brexit, independence is not the answer. That’s why a majority of people in Scotland know we are stronger together and want Nicola Sturgeon to take the reckless threat of a divisive and unwanted second independence referendum off the table.”
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