'She promised to RESPECT the result' Ruth Davidson vows to hold Sturgeon to referendum vow
RUTH Davidson has vowed to hold Nicola Sturgeon to her promise that another divisive independence referendum will not take place for a generation.
Ruth Davidson says polls show Scots don't want referendum
The Scottish Conservative leader suggested that could mean another vote being put off until the 2030s or even the late 2040s, long after the current crop of politicians have retired.
She said: “Nicola Sturgeon signed the Edinburgh Agreement and said she would respect the result and I believed her. She said it would be for a generation and we will endeavour to make sure that it is. This is very much something that’s decided by the people of Scotland.”
Asked for her definition of a generation, she replied: “What was Alex Salmond’s definition? He said that between the 1979 and 2014 referendums, that was about a generation. That works for me.”
In fact, Mr Salmond described 1979 until 1997 as a “political generation” but Ms Davidson’s message is clear - Scots should not be asked about independence again for a long time.
Whether that period is 18 years or 35 years, the tough stance is certain to infuriate Ms Sturgeon and her supporters who want to hold another referendum as early as next year.
The Scottish Government has asked Westminster for permission to hold yet another crunch constitutional ballot between autumn 2018 and spring 2019.
Theresa May has responded that “now is not the time” and said it was not fair to expect Scots to vote again before the final Brexit deal is in place.
Ms Davidson said she now expects the party’s UK manifesto to contain a reference to this position, giving the Prime Minister - if re-elected - a stronger mandate to formally block Ms Sturgeon’s request.
There's no indication at all that the majority of Scots want to go back to another referendum.
She explained: “We don’t know how Brexit is playing out, we don’t know what independence looks like and we shouldn’t be dragged back to another referendum when the majority of Scots don’t want it.
“There's no indication at all that the majority of Scots want to go back to another referendum. In fact there's a quite a lot of evidence to suggest that they don’t.
“I think that it would be a good bet that you would find some language reflecting that position in the UK government manifesto.”
Ms Davidson, who was on the campaign trail with David Mundell in Peebles-shire yesterday, said the SNP has underestimated the backlash from the electorate against the prospect of another referendum.
“I think there’s a couple of things they got wrong,” she said.
“I think they didn’t understand how strongly people would feel about the idea that a vote they gave in good conscience to remain in the EU would be co-opted as a proxy for independence when it was nothing of the sort.”
She added that the “relentless drumbeat” from the SNP leader since the Brexit vote has soured the public’s impression of Ms Sturgeon, who is now “at least as divisive” a figure as her predecessor.
“Pro-UK people took a sigh of relief when the leadership changed from Alex Salmond to Nicola Sturgeon because Nicola was standing up in her first few weeks saying I want to be the First Minister for the whole country,” she explained. “Now that’s been taken away and there’s a sense of betrayal that she said she’d do one thing and now she’s doing something else.”
Away from the independence question, the Scottish manifesto will attempt to put further clear blue water between the Tories at Westminster and at Holyrood - such as today’s U-turn on free prescriptions.
Ms Davidson described her challenge over the next four years is to “turn us into a credible alternative government for Scotland” and if that means moving away from some traditional policies, then so be it.
Ruth Davidson bashes Sturgeon over second referendum claims
She said: “We all have Conservative values but that doesn’t mean we are signed up to exactly the same methods of implementation. So, yes, there will be areas where I take a different view to my colleagues down south. I’m in a very privileged position where I’m able to articulate that view and exercise it here in Scotland.”
Combined with her own personal appeal and a tough stance on the Union, this distinctly Scottish approach has powered a Tory revival north of the Border that was once thought impossible.
After winning 31 seats to become the official opposition to the SNP at Holyrood last year, the party recorded a 12 per cent swing in the council elections to close the gap on the SNP.
Ms Davidson said sheer hard work at grassroots level has also driven the comeback, resulting in Conservative councillors in places such as Shettleston and Ravenscraig.
She said: “This was a really big deal for us, to consolidate the success we had last year, to show it wasn’t a black swan moment, to actually bring forward the next generation that will regenerate the party.
“If people can see hard-working local folk knocking their pan in in their area and then its very difficult for some of the shrill anti-Tory rhetoric to stick. If its a person who lives in your street then you know they are not something different or weird or other.”
A similar result on June 8 could see up to 15 Tory MPs elected next month and leave a host of SNP parliamentarians looking for a new job, including several household names.
Ms Davidson said: “What’s clear is that we had a very good local election campaign but that’s an election where people are voted on by [single transferrable vote] and based on a 50 per cent turnout.
“We’re about to have an election with first past the post on a 70 per cent turnout. Different game. So we know we’ve got to work hard but we are absolutely in the hunt in Perth and North Perthshire, in Moray and in Gordon.”
She added: “We want to do well but the idea we are taking anything for granted is nonsense. We know we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Deidre Brock, the SNP's candidate for Edinburgh North and Leith, suggested her party was unfazed by Ms Davidson's comments about the timing of another referendum.
She said: "Ruth Davidson is absolutely right that this is something that should be decided by the people of Scotland - which is exactly what we're proposing.
"But Ruth Davidson also said that Brexit would be a disaster for Scottish jobs and our economy - now she's saying that we shouldn't have the chance to avoid that.
"It's only fair that Scotland gets a choice on its future once the terms of Brexit are clear. That should be a decision for Scotland, not Westminster Tories."