A Scottish Conservative MP has described plans to pursue a second independence referendum as a “desperate last throw of the dice”.
Andrew Bowie, who represents West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, told BBC’s The Nine time should be spent talking about “much bigger issues” than the constitution.
Mr Bowie said: “No poll suggests that the people of Scotland want independence. No poll suggests even people who want independence want a referendum next year and we should be spending our time talking about much bigger issues rather than constitutional game playing and dancing to the First Minister’s tune with this desperate last roll of the dice which is what this is, frankly.”
Andrew Bowie (Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament)
Mr Bowie said now is “not the time” to hold another referendum, and accused the Scottish Government of “taking their eye off the ball”.
It comes after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced to the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday her intention to ask the UK Supreme Court whether or not it would be legal to hold an independence referendum without consent from the UK Government.
Both Mr Bowie and Scottish constitution secretary, Angus Robertson MSP, refused to “pre-judge” what the Supreme Court would rule.
Mr Robertson was asked if the Scottish government had taken legal advice over whether the bill would pass. He told BBC’s The Nine he would be breaching the ministerial code if he was to discuss any legal advice that had been taken.
Angus Robertson (Andrew Milligan/PA)
He urged the UK Government to grant a section 30 order in order to hold a second referendum, and added: “The Supreme Court is the place that decisions of this sort of magnitude are decided on, and it’s very, very important to the Scottish Government that we proceed in our democratic journey on the basis of legally accepted and constitutional principles.
“There is a way of being able to manage all of this through consensus that would spare having to take this route, which would be for the UK Government to recognise the election result and to respect democratic principles and agree to a section 30 order.”
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