Former Prime Minister says simply refusing SNP demands for another vote carries 'great risk'.
Source - Daily Telegraph 09/11/20
Sir John Major has said that offering two votes on Scottish independence - including a confirmatory referendum once negotiations over separation are complete - could break an impasse over the future of the UK.
In a lecture on Monday night, the former Prime Minister warned that Boris Johnson’s current strategy of refusing to allow a second referendum to take place under any circumstances could play into the SNP’s hands.
Instead, he suggested that UK ministers could agree that an independence referendum takes place, but only on the condition that a second vote was later held to confirm a Yes vote so that “Scottish electors would know what they were voting for, and be able to compare it to what they now have.”
Nicola Sturgeon was one of the leading voices in favour of a ‘People’s Vote’ after the UK voted to leave the EU. Although the campaign to secure a second EU referendum failed, the arguments put forward in favour of a referendum on the final Brexit deal were similar to Sir John’s proposal for a two-vote process on independence.
Alister Jack, the Scottish Secretary, last week said that the UK Government would continue to refuse to allow another referendum to take place for decades, even if the SNP wins a majority at next year’s Holyrood elections.
Sir John said that while he remained a “convinced unionist”, keeping the UK together would require “consensus, consideration and consultation.”
He said: “Refusing [a referendum] might help the separatist case, by adding to the list of grievances the Scottish National Party exploit with such skill.
“The choice for the UK Government is either to agree the referendum can take place – or to refuse to permit it. Both options come with great risk.”
He suggested that the Westminster Government could agree to two votes, one upon the principle of negotiations on leaving the UK, and the second upon the outcome of them.
He added: “The purpose of the second referendum would be that Scottish electors would know what they were voting for, and be able to compare it to what they now have.
“This did not happen with Brexit: had it done so, there may have been no Brexit.”
Kirsten Oswald, the deputy leader of the SNP’s Westminster group, said Sir John’s comments should serve as a “wake up call” for Boris Johnson, claiming his pledge to block a new referendum was “undemocratic” and “straight out of the Trump playbook”.
She added: "It is not for out of touch Westminster governments to dictate the terms of a referendum or to dictate the future of the people of Scotland."
Here's Jeff on the subject.
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