Speaking at a press
conference in Bute House in Edinburgh on Monday, the Scottish first
minister, Nicola Sturgeon, says she is going to ask the Scottish
parliament for its approval to hold a second referendum on Scottish
independence at the end of the Brexit process
The
Guardian view on another Scottish vote: Theresa May’s homemade
crisis
Editorial
The
disrespect shown for remain voters lies behind the breakdown in
relations with Nicola Sturgeon
Monday
13 March 2017 20.00 GMT
Theresa May’s very
first move as prime minister last July was to fly to Edinburgh to
meet Scotland’s first minister. Her decision to get on the plane
herself rather than invite Nicola Sturgeon to come to London was a
timely gesture. It acknowledged the significance of the Scots’
62-38 vote in favour of remain, and the complexity of reconciling
that outcome with the leave majority in England and Wales that
carried the UK.
Just over a week
ago, the prime minister went north again, to Glasgow this time, for
her party’s Scottish conference. Here she delivered a speech that
was aimed entirely at the audience in front of her. It so diminished
the prospects of a Brexit dividend, in the shape of more powers for
Holyrood, that it was at once interpreted as a challenge to Ms
Sturgeon to call a second referendum. Support has been growing since
Mrs May set out her negotiating position in January, when she
rejected continued membership of the single market. It now hovers
around 50%.
On Monday Nicola
Sturgeon stood in front of the same elegant Bute House fireplace
where she had posed with Mrs May back in July and declared that the
“brick wall of intransigence” over Brexit negotiations was
forcing her to call a second independence vote. The field is prepared
for a tense and unpredictable contest between the nationalisms of
England and Scotland. Theresa May is leading the UK out of Europe.
She may have precipitated Scotland’s departure from the UK.
These are not the
circumstances in which the SNP anticipated embarking on a second
independence campaign. There is not the sustained poll support for
the idea nor the enthusiasm for a second referendum that only a year
ago were taken as prerequisites. Brexit has changed everything. Mrs
May’s apparent readiness to tolerate leaving without a deal, her
rejection of any attempt either to fight in the negotiations for
access to the single market for the UK, or to hold out the hope of a
deal that would allow Scotland its own relationship with the rest of
Europe, have both played straight to the independence cause. Ms
Sturgeon says she was misled by the prime minister over the single
market hours before Mrs May announced in her definitive Lancaster
House speech in January that the UK would not try to remain in it.
Scotland’s needs have been brutally ignored, its special identity –
of which the SNP is the unquestioned guardian – disregarded. The
choice facing voters in an independence referendum can be framed as
one between the certain economic catastrophe of crashing out of the
EU and the uncertain consequences of leaving the UK.
All of this has been
well gamed in the past nine months by Ms Sturgeon. With an enfeebled
Labour party, whose leader, Jeremy Corbyn, could not even decide at
the weekend whether or not to support a second independence vote, it
was easy for Ms Sturgeon to warn that the Tories could be in power at
Westminster for another 10, maybe even 15, years. The union’s
defenders are divided and Labour will not lightly repeat the mistake
of sharing a platform with the Tories as it did in 2014, a decision
that it blames for its electoral catastrophes. No party that exists
to secure Scottish independence could ignore such a favourable
coincidence of circumstances. Work to make good the weaknesses
exposed in the last campaign is well under way; a commission is
examining the economic consequences of independence. Expectations are
already being managed down.
The prime minister
is not defenceless. Parliament has to approve the decision to hold a
referendum. Westminster can dictate the timing. The Tories will argue
that there cannot be a Scottish independence vote while the terms of
Brexit are uncertain. The SNP assertion that the vote must take place
at the end of 2018 or early 2019, before a deal is agreed, in order
to be able to remain a member of the EU has been challenged in
Brussels. But there is little else in the tool kit. A vote before
2020 now looks almost certain.
This is an
unnecessary crisis, made in Downing Street with some of the same
elements of control freakery and intransigence that have shaken
relations post-budget between Mrs May and her chancellor. They are
part of an increasingly familiar pattern of behaviour from the prime
minister. Nicola Sturgeon’s strongest argument may not be that
material circumstances have changed since 2014 because an English
majority voted to leave the EU, but the disregard that the prime
minister has shown for all those who voted to remain.
Nicola
Sturgeon's referendum call prompts demands for Welsh and Northern
Irish independence votes
Tom Batchelor
@_tombatchelor an hour ago
Independence
movements in Wales and Northern Ireland are seeking to capitalise on
Nicola Sturgeon’s call for a second referendum in Scotland by
urging the British Government to consider their own demands for
separating from the UK.
Plaid Cymru leader
Leanne Wood claimed a vote on Scottish independence would “lead to
the end of the UK as a state” and said "in that situation
Wales would need to decide its own future".
Her remarks come as
Sinn Fein demanded an Irish border poll that could lead to the
reunification of Ireland.
Earlier, Ms Sturgeon
announced plans to hold a second independence referendum within two
years.
Scottish
independence: Nicola Sturgeon announces second referendum plans
The First Minister
said she hoped a vote would take place as early as autumn 2018 - just
four years after Scots voted by 55 per cent to 45 per cent to remain
in the United Kingdom.
Commenting on that
speech, Ms Wood called for a “national debate to explore all of the
options, including that of independent Wales”.
The Plaid Cymru
leader continued: “If the UK Government’s Brexit negotiation also
leads to the Welsh national interest being overlooked, support will
grow for greater control of our own affairs in Wales.
"We expect this
situation to continue to evolve over the coming years, and Plaid
Cymru will continue to articulate the Welsh national interest at all
times.
“Now is a good
time for people in Wales to think about what is in our own national
interests and how we can best unlock our country’s potential in
this new constitutional scenario.”
In Belfast, Sinn
Fein’s leader Michelle O’Neill said a vote should be offered on
whether Northern Ireland should remain a part of the UK.
She argued that a
border poll should be held as soon as possible, adding that Brexit
had "increased the urgency" for a united Ireland.
Ms O’Neill said:
"They are continuing to refuse to listen to the majority views.
Brexit would be a disaster for the economy and the people of Ireland.
"To us in Sinn
Fein that increases the urgency for the need of a referendum on Irish
unity and that needs to happen as soon as possible."
But Irish Foreign
Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said calls for an Irish border poll
were "premature" and an issue for the longer term.
Renewed calls for
Northern Ireland and Wales to separate from the UK come after Ms
Sturgeon's plea for another go at securing independence from London.
Until recently,
polls showed that support for breaking up the union had barely moved
from the 45 per cent who backed it in the 2014 referendum.
But polls in the
last month have shown support for independence rising.
Parliament
passes Brexit bill and opens way to triggering article 50
Peers
accept MPs’ decision to reject amendments aimed at guaranteeing
rights of EU citizens and meaningful vote on final Brexit bill
Monday 13 March 2017
22.12 GMT First published on Monday 13 March 2017 18.56 GMT
Theresa May’s
Brexit bill has cleared all its hurdles in the Houses of Parliament,
opening the way for the prime minister to trigger article 50 by the
end of March.
Peers accepted the
supremacy of the House of Commons late on Monday night after MPs
overturned amendments aimed at guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens
in the UK and giving parliament a “meaningful vote” on the final
Brexit deal. The decision came after a short period of so-called
“ping pong” when the legislation bounced between the two houses
of parliament as a result of disagreement over the issues.
The outcome means
the government has achieved its ambition of passing a
“straightforward” two-line bill that is confined simply to the
question of whether ministers can trigger article 50 and start the
formal Brexit process.
It had been widely
predicted in recent days that May would fire the starting gun on
Tuesday, immediately after the vote, but sources quashed speculation
of quick action and instead suggested she will wait until the final
week of March.
MPs voted down the
amendment on EU nationals’ rights by 335 to 287, a majority of 48,
with peers later accepting the decision by 274 to 135. The second
amendment on whether to hold a meaningful final vote on any deal
after the conclusion of Brexit talks was voted down by 331 to 286, a
majority of 45, in the Commons.
The Lords then
accepted that decision by 274 to 118, with Labour leader Lady Smith
telling the Guardian that continuing to oppose the government would
be playing politics because MPs would not be persuaded to change
their minds. “If I thought there was a foot in the door or a
glimmer of hope that we could change this bill, I would fight it
tooth and nail, but it doesn’t seem to be the case,” she said.
But the decision led
to tensions between Labour and the Lib Dems, whose leader, Tim
Farron, hit out at the main opposition. “Labour had the chance to
block Theresa May’s hard Brexit, but chose to sit on their hands.
Tonight there will be families fearful that they are going to be torn
apart and feeling they are no longer welcome in Britain. Shame on the
government for using people as chips in a casino, and shame on Labour
for letting them,” he said.
The amendments would
have required the government to bring forward proposals about how
they would protect EU citizens within three months of triggering
article 50, and said that a parliamentary vote on the final Brexit
deal should be on the face of the legislation.
The Brexit
secretary, David Davis, told colleagues that MPs and peers had made
their arguments with “passion, sincerity and conviction”. But,
using emollient language that served to persuade peers not to cause
any more trouble for the government, he said he wanted this
legislation to remain “straightforward”, simply allowing the
government to embark on the formal Brexit process.
Davis said he would
take personal “moral responsibility” for guaranteeing the future
rights of EU citizens in the UK as well as those of Britons living on
the continent.
On the second
amendment, Davis said guaranteeing a meaningful vote could hamper the
government during its negotiations. He questioned the motives of
those arguing for it, claiming that they wanted to reverse the
referendum result.
A number of Tory MPs
argued that the government was right to aim to guarantee reciprocity
for British citizens abroad. However, Davis was opposed by Labour,
the Lib Dems and the SNP – with some passionate speeches from
critics – and faced a small rebellion on his own backbenches over
the meaningful vote on the eventual Brexit deal.
Davis reassured MPs
that they would have a say on various issues through government bills
that would be published after the great repeal bill including on
immigration and Britain’s customs deal. It came as reports
suggested that a leaked document had outlined how those bills would
be among seven pieces of legislation to prepare for life outside the
EU.
After peers voted to
allow the passage of the bill unamended, Davis said the decision had
placed Britain “on the threshold of the most important negotiation
for our country in a generation”, saying that his government was
ready to trigger article 50 and forge new trade links.
The Labour leader,
Jeremy Corbyn, described the decision by MPs to overturn the votes as
“deeply disappointing”. He said: “We will continue to demand
that the stress they, and British citizens living in the EU, are
being put under is ended, and they are given the right to remain.
“Article 50 is
being triggered because of the result of the EU referendum. But it is
only the start of the process. Labour, at every stage, will challenge
the government’s plans for a bargain-basement Brexit with Labour’s
alternative of a Brexit that puts jobs, living standards and rights
first.”
The founder of
The3million, the grassroots organisation lobbying for the rights of
EU citizens, said he felt “utter desperation” that they are now
destined to become bargaining chips.
Nicolas Hatton said:
“The hearts of 3 million EU citizens living in the UK will have
sunk today when they heard that MPs had voted down the amendment to
article 50 giving them guarantees. This was the last chance, and I
struggle to find words to express my utter desperation that EU
citizens will now be used by the government as bargaining chips in
the Brexit negotiations.”
There was also angry
reaction from British people living on the continent. Dave Spokes for
Expat Citizen Rights in EU, one of the biggest support groups, with
more than 7,600 members in 27 EU countries, said: “It is worrying
that our government chooses to ignore the concerns of its own
citizens and the evidence put to its select committees that citizens’
rights should be confirmed immediately.
“The government’s
own white paper said it had engaged with citizens’ groups in
Europe, but we have yet to find one group that has been approached by
the Department for Exiting the EU. We do wonder what the outcome
might have been had they actually done so.”
A coalition of 11
grassroots groups campaigning for British nationals in the EU said it
also felt for the millions of Europeans in the UK. “We share their
suffering, and know exactly how stressful and unpleasant it is to
live with this degree of uncertainty for ourselves and our families,”
said spokeswoman Jane Golding, who lives in Germany. “We do not
believe people should be used as a bargaining chips.”
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