POLLING expert John Curtice has claimed Boris Johnson’s arguments against holding a second independence referendum will soon “wash away”.
The Strathclyde University professor predicts that the “game of chess” over any referendum will start “by this time next year”.
He also said Nicola Sturgeon will face increased pressure from supporters if she doesn’t succeed in pushing Boris Johnson into agreeing a second vote.
Speaking to the Express, Prof Curtice said: “If the pandemic is coming towards an end, and the UK Government seemed to be among the cheerleaders to saying that the pandemic is coming to the end, then the arguments you can't hold a referendum anytime soon because of the pandemic will wash away.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon accused of 'plotting' to break up UK 'at worst possible moment'
"They'll particularly wash away so far as the UK Government won't be able to pursue that argument anymore because of its own stance on the subject that 'we're waiting to see and it's all very much uncertain, we wait to see what happens during the winter.'
"But certainly by this time next year, the reasonable bet is the pandemic will no longer be a significant strain on social and political life.
"At that point, the game of chess starts and we wait to see where the polls are at when the game of chess starts.
"And we wait to see how the game of chess is played. But it's a complicated game of chess."
The polling guru also likened Ms Sturgeon's internal pressure to what Mr Johnson faced over Brexit.
He added: "It will be as impossible for Nicola Sturgeon not to pursue a referendum as would have been proposed Johnson not to have pursued Brexit after December 2019.
"They are both hidebound by very particular electorates that have a very particular view.
"And then we see what happens."
It comes as Ms Sturgeon was accused of “plotting how to divide people at the worst possible moment” after reports the party intends to put independence back on the agenda at September’s SNP conference.
The SNP’s Holyrood election manifesto stated that it would push for “an independence referendum to be held after Covid”, adding that a re-run of the 2014 vote should happen “when the crisis has passed but in time for us to equip our parliament with the full powers it needs to drive our long-term recovery from Covid”.
The party has made no secret that the three big policy themes at this year’s conference will include independence – as well as climate change and the 2022 council elections.
A draft agenda for the SNP conference, due to take place from September 10 to September 13, seen by the Daily Telegraph newspaper, reportedly shows party members will be asked to back a new drive for independence – with Scots to be told that breaking up the UK is “essential” to Scotland’s recovery form the pandemic.
The newspaper also reports another motion on the draft agenda states a new referendum should be introduced at the Scottish parliament “at the earliest moment” after a “clear end” to the pandemic.
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