Second question 'admits defeat'

THE anti-independence forces yesterday sought to pile the pressure on Alex Salmond by insisting any decision by him to have a second referendum question on extra powers for Holyrood would be an "admission of defeat" on Scottish independence.

Yet the SNP hit back, claiming the Unionist parties were "obsessed" by the second question issue and insisted the demand for one was not coming from the First Minister.

Speaking during a Commons debate, David Mundell, the Scotland Office Minister, stressed the SNP won its landslide victory in the Scottish parliamentary elections last year on the basis of a manifesto commitment to hold a referendum on independence – not on further devolution.

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