VOTES for Alex Salmond’s Alba party will be counted with those for the SNP and Scottish Greens in a ‘de facto referendum’ on independence, Angus Robertson has said.
The SNP constitution secretary told MSPs that votes for all independence parties would be regarded as being cast for the Yes side in such a scenario.
It followed Nicola Sturgeon doubling down on her plan to fight the next general election as a de facto referendum following her failure to secure Indyref2 at the Supreme Court.
Five justices unanimously ruled Holyrood cannot hold an independence referendum without Westminster’s consent, dashing Ms Sturgeon’s plan for Indyref2 in October next year.
Ms Sturgeon has said she would need to get 50 per cent of the votes cast in the election to have a mandate to seek independence from the UK Government.
However she said the details were yet to be thrashed out by a special SNP conference in the spring, and she could only speak for her own party, not the Greens or others.
She was also dismissive of her predecessor Mr Salmond’s call for a “co-ordinated campaign of Civic and Parliamentary action”.
She said: “By definition, civic ccampaigns shouldn't take good instructions from politicians.
“But I think there is a real need for a campaign now to promote Scottish democracy.”
At Holyrood later, Green MSP Ross Greer asked Mr Robertson if he agreed “that every vote cast for pro-independence candidates at the 2024 general election will count towards the mandate for Scotland’s independence?”
The Constitution Secretary replied: “Indeed, they will. As democrats, it behoves all of us to embrace every democratic opportunity to secure democratic change.
“However, in a democracy it also behoves other political parties that have different views to uphold the basic tenets of democracy.”
Mr Greer added: “The onus is now on the UK Government to explain how, if this is a voluntary union, a part of that union can decide whether to stay or to go.”
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