Nicola Sturgeon's referendum announcement shows she much has far more in common with Theresa May than she'd like to admit

3 min read30 April 2019

We need a period of calm with serious politicians acting in the interest of the country, not their party, who will look at the big issues of the day and choose to make important decisions instead of false promises, says Ged Killen MP.

In 2015 Nicola Sturgeon told us that it would be wrong to propose another independence referendum in the current parliament without strong evidence that a significant number of those who voted No had changed their minds.

Since then polls have barely shifted yet, in 2016, the SNP leader launched a ‘national conversation’ and a summer independence initiative; in 2017, she announced a second independence referendum to be held between autumn 2018 and spring 2019; later that year, those plans were ‘reset’ only for her to announce in 2018 that she would ‘restart’ the debate on independence with the launch of her party’s growth commission.

Nowadays, it feels like every time we hear from the First Minister we get a running commentary on how many weeks there are left before she sets out her latest thinking on the timing of a second independence referendum.

Last Wednesday, the wait was over, again.

The latest plan is for the Scottish Government to pass a Referendum Bill by the end of 2019 that will provide a Framework to allow a vote by 2021 providing the UK Government agrees.

It is incredible to think that on major issues such as education, the First Minister’s alleged top priority, we have seen flagship legislation binned while a Referendum Bill that may never be used is being prioritised for the end of this year.

The timing of these various announcements and initiatives is no coincidence, they are almost always made during, or shortly before, a Scottish National Party Conference. I suspect Nicola Sturgeon still believes what she said in 2015 - she knows holding another referendum without strong evidence No voters have changed their minds guarantees defeat – but, like her Westminster counterpart, she must tread carefully to keep her party together.

I find it difficult to understand how anyone can look at the chaos of Brexit and believe that the antidote is to pile more chaos on top of it with ‘Scexit’.

But taking Scotland out of the UK is the SNP’s top priority and they will always find new ways to keep the issue alive no matter the wider political landscape.

SNP politicians will tell us that, unlike Brexit, leaving the UK will be easy, but those same politicians are still unable to provide straightforward answers to the most fundamental questions such as how the currency of an independent Scotland will work.

We are now eight years, two referendums and two general elections on from when the SNP took power in 2011, and despite constant demands for answers on key issues the SNP still have not been able to provide meaningfully clarity.

The UK is not perfect, but neither is the EU and, thanks to Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, we have a living example of where the simple rhetoric of nationalism leads.

Caught between her own views and MPs, MSPs and a party membership desperate for action, Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement shows that she has more in common with Theresa May than she’d like to admit. However, in Theresa May we have seen where this leads and I fear the first Minister will take Scotland down a similar path.

The UK economy is still recovering from the 2008 recession, but world economists predict that we could see another by 2021. That is why our priority must be to resolve the current constitutional crisis, not start a new one.

Ged Killen is Labour and Co-operative MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West.

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