A NATIONALIST MSP has indicated that he believes another referendum on Scottish independence will be held during the next Holyrood parliament.
Colin Keir, who represents Edinburgh Western as is facing a battle for renomination to stand again next May, has produced a leaflet in which he says the SNP needed a maximum number of MSPs in 2016 to "win a second independence referendum."
Opponents said the leaflet clashed with the claim made by several high-profile figures on the Yes side during last year's campaign who said the vote was a once in a generation, or even a once in a lifetime, opportunity.
Nicola Sturgeon has so far refused to rule out seeking a mandate to hold a second vote in the SNP's manifesto ahead of next May's Scottish Parliament vote.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said: "It seems the once in a generation message has changed to holding a second referendum as soon as possible. People in Scotland voted decisively in September to stay in the UK – it’s time the SNP respected that result."
Mr Keir, who was elected in 2011 after overturning a Liberal Democrat majority of almost 6,000, is facing challenges from five other members in the race to be selected.
They include Toni Giugliano, a European politics and French with EU constitutional law graduate from the University of Edinburgh, who has worked in Brussels and led the Yes campaign in Scotland's capital. The Italian, who moved to Scotland aged seven, is on SNP’s national executive committee.
Mr Keir, a former bus driver and councillor, has faced accusations that he has been "lazy" during his spell as an MSP although others have defended his record. Edinburgh Council finance convener Alasdair Rankin, leisure convener Richard Lewis, and activists Graham Sutherland, Alison Lindsay and Jamie Szymkowiak are also fighting to win the SNP nomination for the seat.
An SNP spokesman said: "The timing of any future referendum is entirely a matter for the people of Scotland to decide - the people, not politicians, are in charge at every stage of the process. The First Minister has made clear we are not planning another referendum, but equally has made it clear that it is not in the gift of any politician and party to rule it out indefinitely."
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