Yahoo News Nicola Sturgeon becoming 'laughing stock' over her claim general election not linked to independence
Nicola Sturgeon risks becoming a “laughing stock” over her claim that her election campaign has nothing to do with independence, Ruth Davidson has said as grassroots nationalists urged the SNP to make the link “explicit and undeniable”.
The Scottish Tory leader poured scorn on the First Minister’s attempt to decouple her recent demand for a second referendum from the general election, asking “who does she think she is kidding?”
She said Ms Sturgeon may have told her members not to mention “the ‘i’ word” on the doorsteps but the SNP has always used gains in previous elections to push the case for separation.
David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary, said the SNP leader’s attempts to distance her general election campaign from her independence push and her personal attacks on Ms Davidson showed she was “rattled” by polls showing the Tories winning up to 12 seats in Scotland, including 10 from her party.
The two most senior Scottish Tories spoke out the day after Ms Sturgeon insisted the general election result had no impact on her campaign to break up Britain. She refused to repeat her assertion last week that a strong SNP showing would “reinforce” her referendum demand.
It also emerged she is likely to delay making a parliamentary statement on the next steps in her campaign for a second referendum until after the general election. She had originally promised to unveil her plans after the council elections on May 4.
Her intervention came as a new opinion poll found support for independence has dropped to 40 per cent and only one in four Scots support her demand for a second referendum between autumn next year and spring 2019.
Chart - the Conservatives are polling at nearly double their 2015 vote share in Scotland
But the Scottish Independence Convention (SIC), a cross-party group of nationalists, said all pro-separation parties should make clear their backing for another referendum in their election manifestos to secure an “overwhelming mandate”.
Ms Davidson said: “The First Minister risks turning herself into a laughing stock here. For the last few months, everyone in Scotland has seen her do nothing else but campaign for an unwanted second independence referendum.
“Yet now there's an election on, she suddenly tells people independence isn't the issue for her and orders her troops - don't mention the 'i' word. After the last few months of talking about nothing else, who does she think she's kidding?”
Nicola Sturgeon has lost the plot. For months she has been having a tantrum – demanding that Scots have another independence referendum so we could stay in Europe…This is a party in disarray
Willie Rennie, Scottish Lib Dem leader
She highlighted a series of instances during the 2011 and 2016 Holyrood elections, the 2012 council election and the 2015 general election in which Ms Sturgeon and Alex Salmond claimed the poll had nothing to do with independence.
But she said that the Nationalists have always claimed after those polls that “separation is ever closer” and warned Ms Sturgeon that more Scots have “wised up” to her tactics.
Mr Mundell told the Telegraph: “If the SNP loses seats, loses votes and loses vote share, that’s not an endorsement for her position on independence. That’s what she will be judged by.
“What I would hope is that Nicola Sturgeon would take a step back and actually listen to the people of Scotland, remove the threat of a divisive referendum and throw her lot in with the Prime Minister to work to get the best possible deal on Brexit. She needs to wake up and smell the coffee.”
The Conservatives' Scottish targets in the General Election
Willie Rennie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, said: "Nicola Sturgeon has lost the plot. For months she has been having a tantrum – demanding that Scots have another independence referendum so we could stay in Europe…This is a party in disarray.”
But Drew Hendry, an SNP MP, said: “This election is about standing up for Scotland and providing a strong opposition to an arrogant Tory party which now thinks it can do anything it wants to Scotland and get away with it – and only the SNP can provide that opposition.
“There is only going to be one winner in this election in Scotland – the SNP or the Tories.”
One of the weekend’s polls showed support for the Scottish Tories at 33 per cent, 18 points higher than in the 2015 general election. Among the SNP seats under threat from the surge is the Moray constituency of Angus Robertson, the Nationalists’ Westminster leader.
The First Minister has said any drop in support would have no impact on her mandate for another referendum as she won that at last year’s Holyrood election, at which the SNP emerged the largest party but lost its majority.
But the SIC argued that the SNP and pro-separation Scottish Greens should state in their general election manifestos that if they win a majority of Scotland’s 59 seats “then that will add to the overwhelming mandate that already exists.”
The Prime Minister has refused her demand for another independence vote in the near future, saying Scots should be able to see how Brexit has bedded in and there should be strong public backing for another vote.
Key questions | Scotland and Brexit
