Swinney - SNP Considering Putting Another Referendum in 2016 Manifesto

[Better Day 5,766]

Mr Swinney said the SNP's Scottish landslide victory in the general election did not give it a mandate to hold another referendum.

He reiterated First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's assurance that another referendum can only be sanctioned by a vote for a party that has proposed one in its manifesto.

When pressed on whether the SNP will propose a re-run next year, he said: "That is an issue that the party will determine and consider in the run-up to the 2016 election."

Ms Sturgeon will urge Prime Minister David Cameron to hand Scotland more powers beyond those recommended by the cross-party Smith Commission on Devolution when they meet in Edinburgh today.

Former Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael has accused Ms Sturgeon of setting out unreasonable demands that she knows will be refused, to drive a wedge between Holyrood and Westminster and justify proposals for another referendum.

Ms Sturgeon has described Westminster's initial devolution offer as "a strong starting point" but reiterated her desire to secure "full fiscal responsibility" for Scotland.

And she has urged the Prime Minister to "demonstrate that Westminster does listen" to Scotland or risk swaying public opinion towards another independence referendum.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Swinney said: "We don't have a mandate for a second referendum.

"We didn't seek one at the UK general election, and I don't think we could have made it any clearer that there was nothing - absolutely nothing - about the outcome in the UK general election.

"We have set out the process by which Scotland could have a referendum on independence, and that is that a political party - the Scottish National Party - would have to put that in our manifesto in a Scottish Parliament election.

"That is an issue that the party will determine and consider in the run-up to the 2016 election.

"We said if there was to be a second referendum, that would have to be put into the manifesto of the party and it would have to be supported by the public.

"Now there is nothing - absolutely nothing - that I can claim from the election last Thursday that gives us any right to hold a second referendum on the independence question and we are not planning a second independence referendum.

"We respect the outcome of the referendum last September and what we are focused on is making sure that the electoral decisions of the people of Scotland last Thursday, which were to substantially support the Scottish National Party in the election, are used to secure the additional powers and responsibilities that we said to the people of Scotland that we were arguing for in the election."

Mr Swinney also described as "scandalous" Mr Cameron's appointment of Andrew Dunlop, an adviser to Margaret Thatcher when the poll tax was introduced in 1989, as a junior minister in the Scotland Office following his elevation to the House of Lords.

"The Conservatives have just commanded their worst level of support in Scotland for over 100 years," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"They have one MP in Scotland and what the Prime Minister has done is to appoint the architect of the poll tax to the House of Lords and to make him a minister in the United Kingdom Government.

"If that is what David Cameron means by governing by respect, it's a very, very odd definition of the term indeed."

Mr Carmichael told Today: "Be quite clear about what Nicola Sturgeon is about here.

"What she is wanting is to make a series of demands which she knows will be refused which will then drive that little wedge that bit further between Westminster and Holyrood and which will justify her then in going to the people of Scotland next year in her manifesto in the Scottish Parliament elections with a proposal for a second referendum.

"That's what this is all about."

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/scottish-politics/swinney-the-snp-will-consider-putting-plans-for-2nd-indyref-in-its-holyro.1431681119

 

I feel this may be too early for another referendum. I feel that we should wait until the tories are finished with us. 

[hmm 979]

This article's a month old yesterday

It even makes reference to the election 'last Thursday'.

Anyway, as I'm reading it - the SNP DFM's pointing out that it's success in the Scottish elections that will determine the go-ahead for a second referendum, not those in the Westminster elections (because their campaign for GE2015 made no explicit push to a second referendum). That in itself is pretty obvious because people vote for different motives in local, general and european elections  

[AM98GJ 3,086]

Tbh, they should've made an agreement that they can't hold another referendum for another 100 years or something 

why do they want us to break up 

 

Didn't Cameron promise to give them their devolution?

 

[bionic 50,111]

Referendums on Scottish independence should happen every day until they finally vote yes.

Then, there should be a daily referendum on rejoining the UK until it passes, when they switch back to independence referendums. 

 

It's only fair that everybody gets the referendum they want  

[Better Day 5,766]

Tbh, they should've made an agreement that they can't hold another referendum for another 100 years or something 

why do they want us to break up 

 

Didn't Cameron promise to give them their devolution?

 

We don't want to break yous up. We feel that our country COULD be better away from the union.

yes he is giving us further devolution but a scratch what he promised before the referendum

[Better Day 5,766]

Referendums on Scottish independence should happen every day until they finally vote yes.

Then, there should be a daily referendum on rejoining the UK until it passes, when they switch back to independence referendums. 

 

It's only fair that everybody gets the referendum they want  

It is really up to the Scottish people if they want another referendum. 

[AM98GJ 3,086]

We don't want to break yous up. We feel that our country COULD be better away from the union.

yes he is giving us further devolution but a scratch what he promised before the referendum

Ahhhh ok, also, what's happening regarding the North Sea oil, because it was on the news a month or so ago about the industry basically collapsing because of low prices, does that affect the plan at all?

[Better Day 5,766]

Ahhhh ok, also, what's happening regarding the North Sea oil, because it was on the news a month or so ago about the industry basically collapsing because of low prices, does that affect the plan at all?

It does. Last time I heard they were 7 billion missing from the Scottish economy. We won't get indepedence this decade but maybe by the end of next decade or the next after that

[hmm 979]

Referendums on Scottish independence should happen every day until they finally vote yes.

Then, there should be a daily referendum on rejoining the UK until it passes, when they switch back to independence referendums. 

 

It's only fair that everybody gets the referendum they want  

​Don't forget the referenda on whether the daily referenda should go ahead  

[paul 687]

I think if we had another referendum on independence, people would vote differently, as a result of the recent general election. It is clear that SNP support has grown immensely in that Scotland owns 56 of 59 Scottish seats - a majority. However, it is governed on the whole by a party that achieved only one seat in Scotland. How does that make any sense at all??

Scotland is swinging towards a political left while England continues to become more right wing under the power of the Conservative party. These kind of differences cannot be ignored for long, and it will be interesting to see how Cameron intends to "unite" the country once again as he said he will.