Nicola Sturgeon on brink: How secret SNP papers exposed crippling impact of independence
NICOLA STURGEON has made Scottish independence a key objective for her and the SNP - but damning papers showed that her pursuit of this goal could hurt Scotland's public services.
Nicola Sturgeon calls for ‘continued support’ from UK government
The country’s top civil servant, Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans, warned of this in 2017 as she told Nicola Sturgeon and co that delivering another poll on independence might have an “impact” on key government priorities. She also claimed in her five page memo that a rerun of the 2014 vote would mean a “deprioritisation of activity” in devolved policy areas, while officials began “transitional planning for moving to an independent Scotland”. Critics referenced the document – which was published in 2019 – and claimed it showed the SNP’s independence objective had come at the expense of improving schools, hospitals, and other frontline services.
The Permanent Secretary made the stark warning not long after the Scottish First Minister vowed to hold Indyref2.
It was released following a lengthy freedom of information battle by the Scottish Conservative Party.
Leader Jackson Carlaw suggested Ms Sturgeon halt all civil service preparations for secession and instead focus on education, law and order, and the NHS.
He said: “The SNP tried to keep this document under wraps and it’s clear why.
“These Scexit files show delivering Nicola Sturgeon’s referendum won’t just divide our country all over again, it will push your school, your local hospital and your high street to the back of the queue.
“With violent crime on the rise, hospital projects in tatters, and our education system failing to deliver, she needs to listen for once.”
Ms Sturgeon had called for a Scottish referendum to take place in 2020, but her efforts to secure a vote has been rebuffed by the previous two prime ministers as Brexit continues to take hold.
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Ms Evans’ 2017 memo stated officials would produce an analysis that “will include offering a view about the impact that delivering the referendum, and preparing for its outcome, might have on the Government’s wider programme of activity”.
The document added: “It will be important too for the civil service to develop robust plans to ensure our readiness to implement either outcome of the referendum.
“That work will include transitional planning for moving to an independent Scotland.”
She also spoke of preparing for a poll amid Brexit saying this “will require focus and careful management”.
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Ms Evans also highlighted how civil servants would have to “identify where we see scope for deprioritisation of activity and essential augmentation of skills or capacity”.
Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, said: “These bombshell documents reveal the devastating impact of a divisive and unwanted second referendum on vital public services in Scotland.
"We don’t need another Scexit referendum, we need a government that focuses on the day job it was elected to do.”
A spokesman for Constitutional Relations Secretary Mike Russell said: “We have been entirely open about the fact we are preparing for a referendum, and this material shows how, regardless of that, it is Brexit which is impacting on day- to-day work in other areas.”