'She knows she would LOSE' Tory MP bashes Sturgeon over independence referendum threat
BREXITEER John Redwood has hit out at Nicola Sturgeon and said the SNP would lose if it was to hold a second Scottish independence referendum.
Redwood: Sturgeon knows she'd LOSE second referendum
The Conservative Party MP said regardless of what was happening in the world the First Minister would use it as an “excuse” to call a referendum.
The comments come after Mrs Sturgeon said Theresa May’s plans to leave the single market brought another independence referendum “undoubtedly” closer.
The Scottish Government has also set out proposals aimed at keeping Scotland within the trading bloc even if the rest of the UK pulls out.
But Mr Redwood threw out any possibility of a referendum, despite 62 per cent of Scottish voters wanting to Remain in the European Union.
Redwood praises May for opting to leave single market
She leads an independence party, she’s going to go on saying ‘we want independence’ whatever is going on in Britain and in the wider world
“She’s not calling a second referendum and she’s not calling one because she knows she would lose it on the current polling and so that doesn’t surprise me,” he said.
“Yes, she leads an independence party, she’s going to go on saying ‘we want independence’ whatever is going on in Britain and in the wider world.
“They will use that as an excuse to say ‘there you are, Scotland needs to be independent’ but if you look at the mood of the Scottish people, they’re no more in favour of independence today than a few months ago when we last asked them in a formal referendum.”
The Wokingham MP said he was all for Scottish independence if the demand was there but did not foresee it ever happening.
He said: “That’s fine by me but I also believe in democratic volunteers in a country.
“If we ever did get to the point where a very large Scottish majority of Scottish people didn’t want to stay in our union, then of course they’d have every right to leave – I just don’t foresee that happening.”
The comments come as former First Minister Alex Salmond endorsed Mrs Sturgeon’s warning on Tuesday.
He told Sky News: “When I called the first referendum in Scotland, support for independence was at 28 per cent.
“In the referendum campaign itself, it ended up at 45 per cent. 16 out of 17 polls since the Euro referendum have shown support higher than 45 per cent.”