A second independence vote would affect the Scottish Government’s ability to get on with the ’day job’, a former Scottish justice minister has warned.
But the effect would be tiny in comparison to Brexit, Kenny MacAskill writes in today’s Herald, as he accuses the Conservatives of “gross hypocrisy” over the issue.
Last month Prime Minister Theresa May said Nicola Sturgeon was treating politics “like a game” and that Scots deserved a First Minister “who is focused on their priorities – raising standards in education, taking care of the health service, reforming criminal justice, helping the economy prosper, improving people’s lives.”
The Scottish Conservatives have also criticised Ms Sturgeon's visit to America this week.
But Mr MacAskill, who points out that Mrs May is herself currently on a trip to Saudi Arabia, defends the desire to promote Scotland to a significant trading partner, such as the US.
But, he says that the Tories “have a point” when it comes to how a second Scottish independence referendum would affect the day-to-day running of the Scottish Government.
“It was noticeable during the period running up to 2014 and will remain the same now. There’s only so much a Government can do and politics is as ever about priorities," he says.
However, he argues, the effect of another referendum would be dwarfed by that of dealing with the consequences of leaving the European Union.
“For sure they (the Conservatives) are right that a second referendum will slow, though not stop the wheels of Government, on more mundane issues," he writes.
"But, it’s all as nothing to what Brexit will do and after all it’s the driver for all of this.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel