THE SNP and the Tories are heading for deadlock over the EU referendum bill. Yesterday Prime Minister David Cameron said that the UK would leave the EU even if Scotland voted to stay.
The Prime Minister told the Daily Express that he had a mandate from the whole of UK to hold the referendum, and that any decision taken would be for the whole country.
“We put forward in our manifesto the clearest possible pledge of an in-out referendum by the end of 2017,” he said. “That has now been backed in a UK General Election and I believe I have a mandate for that”.
He continued: “[The SNP] didn’t give Orkney and Shetland an opt out, or the Borders an opt out [during the Scottish independence referendum] so this is a UK pledge, it will be delivered for the UK.”
Nicola Sturgeon has argued that the UK’s leaving the EU should be dependent on Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland all voting to do so. SNP MPs will table an amendment to Cameron’s EU referendum bill to put that in place. The SNP leader previously wrote: “We are proposing the democratic safeguard that the UK could only exit the European Union if all of the four nations — England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — voted to do so, as well as the UK as a whole. This amendment, which a team of SNP MPs would table to any EU Referendum Bill in the House of Commons, reflects the claims made by the No campaign in the independence referendum that the UK is a ‘family of nations’, with equal status.”
The make-up of the House means that it is unlikely that the SNP will get enough votes to have their amendment added to the bill without the support of Labour.
Although the SNP refused to be drawn on the matter yesterday, if the amendment falls, it is likely that SNP MPs could then vote against the bill.
Labour’s position is less clear, with leadership frontrunner Andy Burnham saying recently that the party was wrong to deny people a referendum and that he would back an in-out vote on the EU, but only if it was held in 2016.
During the campaign for the General Election, the First Minister had said that the rest of the UK voting to leave, and Scotland voting to remain, could be what leads to another referendum on Scottish independence.
That the General Election was not about a referendum on Scottish independence almost became a mantra for Nicola Sturgeon during the election campaign, so often was she forced to say it. The only way that it might be “appropriate to have a proposal for a referendum” would be if “something material” changed “in terms of the circumstances or public opinion”.
When, at a debate in Aberdeen between the Scottish party leaders, the First Minister was pushed to detail what this material change might be, she replied: “Perhaps if the Tories wanted to drag us out of the European Union against our will, for example. That might change the circumstances.”
The SNP’s Depute Leader Stewart Hosie said: “During the referendum campaign we were repeatedly told Scotland was part of a ‘family of nations’ within the UK. If this is true, then there is an unanswerable case for the people of Scotland’s voice to be heard on this vital issue.
“Our proposal for a ‘double majority’ would mean unless England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each vote to leave the EU, the UK would remain a member state. This ensures that no nation is dragged out of the EU against the will of its people. Rather than fixating on ripping Scotland and the UK out of the EU, the Tories should get on with ensuring the powers promised to Scotland are delivered.”
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