A second independence referendum could take place while Scotland is in the recovery phase from the Covid crisis.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney has said that a fresh breakaway poll should take place when "stability" has been achieved in the handling of the pandemic, and the country is "out of the woods".
But he added that the vote could be held before the economic and societal shocks of the past 12 months have fully dissipated, to allow Scots to help guide the type of recovery for the country they wish to see.
Nicola Sturgeon said a second independence referendum should be held in the next parliamentary term - within five years - as she launched the SNP's manifesto yesterday ahead of the Holyrood election.
Speaking to the BBC this morning, Mr Swinney was unable to give a definite timeframe for another independence referendum, but said that Scotland should be able to decide its constitutional future as soon as "we get to a position of stability and we're seeing the signs of recovery taking place."
Mr Swinney said: "The First Minister has said she would hope to be in a position to be able to do this in the first half of this parliamentary term. I think that's a reasonable timeframe for us to consider.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon unveils SNP manifesto indyref pledge
"That may well be possible - once we've got to a position of stability... What the country has got to consider is how does it want to plan its recovery from Covid?
"I don't want the recovery of Covid in Scotland to be one designed by Boris Johnson in London which entrenches inequality in our society."
Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to hold a second Indyref
Mr Swiney added: "I want people in Scotland to be able to decide how the country should recover, how we should tackle that fundamental inequality, how we should use our resources, how we should enable individuals to participate in our society to be productive contributors - and to do that we need the powers of independence.
"I'm confident about giving that choice to the people of Scotland, and that choice should be made by the people of Scotland in all circumstances, but we have to it at the right time."
READ MORE: Anas Sarwar - I’m not yet a candidate for first minister
The SNP manifesto says the party's intention is for the referendum "to be within the first half of the five-year [parliamentary] term".
Ms Sturgeon has said it should take place when the crisis has passed, and insisted there will be no "democratic, electoral or moral justification" for Boris Johnson to block a referendum if there is a pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament.
The Scottish Conservatives have accused the SNP of seeking to put "a referendum roadblock in front of Scotland’s recovery".
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