NICOLA Sturgeon has urged Boris Johnson to call a snap general election if MPs vote to bring down his government, saying: “Bring it on.”
The First Minister was reacting to a Downing Street official saying that if MPs pass a vote of no confidence in the government next week, Mr Johnson would not resign.
Instead, the Prime Minister would dissolve parliament and call an election for the week after Brexit on October 31 to stop MPs legislating to block no-deal.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson branded a 'tin pot dictator' over Commons suspension plan
Mr Sturgeon tweeted: “Bring it on. Have the courage of your convictions, Boris Johnson. Call an election now - with polling day before Oct 31 - and let the people vote. Or are you frit?”
Bring it on. Have the courage of your convictions, Boris Johnson. Call an election now - with polling day before Oct 31 - and let the people vote. Or are you frit? https://t.co/x7BBLPaPhc
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) August 28, 2019
One of Ms Sturgeon’s colleagues on the SNP’s ruling body said a snap election should be used as the basis for a second independence referendum.
Chris McEleny, the opposition leader on Inverclyde Council and and a member of the SNP’s National Executive Committee, said: “The minute Boris Johnson announces he’s proroguing Parliament the Scottish Government should announce the date of an independence referendum.
“And if a general election is called on the back of Scotland being taken out of the EU through such democratic butchery, a vote at that election should be a vote to commence negotiations on Scottish independence “
McEleny, who is currently standing for election as SNP National Secretary, has promoted the the idea of an independence “Plan B” in collaboration with SNP MP Angus MacNeil.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson to seek extended suspension of Parliament ahead of a Queen's Speech
With the UK government refusing to grant Holyrood the referendum power it currently lacks, the pair say that a Scottish or general election win should be used instead as the mechanism
They argue that if the SNP won a majority of Scottish seats in a general election or most MSPs at a Holyrood election, that would be a mandate to start independence negotiations.
However Ms Sturgeon insists Indyref2 should be run on the same “gold standard” footing as the 2014 referendumm, with a Section 30 order making it legally watertight.
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