Fact check: There’s no appetite for indyref2

by Olaf Stando
Posted on
5 years ago
2 min read

Westminster parties repeatedly claim there is no appetite for Scotland’s right to choose our own future as an independent country.

Scotland has voted repeatedly to demand the choice of our future, and despite the Tories being roundly defeated in Scotland on a single-issue campaign of “no to indyref2”, Boris Johnson has arrogantly dismissed Scottish democracy and refused the First Minister’s request for Section 30 powers to hold indyref2.

A recent Survation poll, commissioned by Progress Scotland, found that 61% of Scots backed Holyrood deciding on whether to hold an independence referendum, compared to only 39% who thought Westminster should decide.

The latest figures show an increase from a comparable question taken in the period before the 2017 election – reflecting a growing consensus that decisions about Scotland should be taken by the people who live here, not politicians in Westminster who have no mandate in Scotland.

In the general election, the SNP won more than 80% of Scotland’s seats on an unequivocal platform to hold a referendum. To suggest that there is “no appetite” for a referendum despite such a clear result is plainly wrong and an insult to democracy.

There is a pro-independence majority of MSPs in the Scottish Parliament, and the recently passed Referendums (Scotland) Bill lays the legislative framework for an independence referendum.

This is backed up by recent polls showing that a majority of Scots – as well as the majority of people across the UK, at an overwhelming 60% – now back an independence referendum by 2021, after Scotland is dragged out of the EU against its will.

Throughout the Brexit process, Scotland has been completely ignored and the past three and a half years have underlined the rising and unsustainable cost to Scotland of not being independent. The Tories denying our right to choose shows just how out of step they are with the people of Scotland – having ran out of arguments, credibility and consistently losing public support.

The choice over Scotland’s future must be in Scotland’s hands – not Boris Johnson’s. Pledge your support for independence here and together, we will build a fairer, better, more equal country.