NICOLA Sturgeon has said that the SNP will have to be the official opposition in Westminster, as Labour goes through a period of “introspection”.
The First Minister also said that the SNP’s success at the General Election, was “not an endorsement of independence”.
Sturgeon was pressed on remarks by made her predecessor Alex Salmond that the election victory was a “staging post” on the way to independence.
Salmond said: “Scotland has seen a number of days that many people thought we would never see.
“People thought there would never be a Scottish parliament; then some people thought there would never be an SNP government, some people thought there would never be a majority SNP government.
“So this is the latest staging post in what seems progress for Scottish people.”
Sturgeon dismissed the media hysteria around Salmond’s comments: “What Alex said, and I don’t think it’s a particularly controversial statement, is that he thinks Scotland will become an independent country.
“I think Scotland will become an independent country one day. He said he thinks it will be in his lifetime, I hope that’s the case.
“There’s no disagreement between Alex and me on this, this General Election campaign was not about independence.
“I said that repeatedly, I said it consistently and I said expressly to people in Scotland that if they voted SNP, and half of the Scottish population did, I would not take that as an endorsement of independence. I stick to that position.
“I’m a great believer in what you say before an election should be what you say after. Many people who voted no for independence in the referendum, who would vote no if the referendum was tomorrow, voted SNP on Thursday.
“I’ve got a responsibility to make sure that we represent all of them but also that we represent those who didn’t vote for us and seek to win their trust.
“As First Minister, as leader of the SNP, I’ve got a responsibility to try to unite Scotland and I’m determined that I do that.”
Later in the day David Cameron told Channel 4 News that he was “confident” there would not be a referendum.
Cameron was asked if he thought he might be the last prime minister of the United Kingdom. He told Channel 4 News: “Very confident. The United Kingdom voted to stay together in that referendum.
“We had a referendum. Respect and trust should be at the heart of our system and that’s what we did and Scotland voted emphatically to stay in the United Kingdom which I think was an affirmation of what a great country this is.
“There isn’t going to be another referendum. We had the referendum and the SNP aren’t pushing for another referendum actually. Nicola Sturgeon said that the vote in the General Election was not about another referendum.
“Now what we need to do is bring the United Kingdom together. We are going to do that by delivering the devolution settlement in Wales, delivering the devolution settlement in Scotland, keeping all the pledges that were made.”
Sturgeon has always insisted that any future referendum would be a policy for the SNP’s manifesto for the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections.
The First Minister told Andrew Marr on his show that the SNP’s 56 MPs would have power and influence in Westminster.
Sturgeon told Marr that the SNP would be the main opposition in Westminster.
“Scotland clearly doesn’t want austerity to continue and there are discussions we will require to have about the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government’s budget, discussions that I will want to have about £12 billion of welfare cuts that David Cameron didn’t specify in the election that will hit disabled people,” she said.
“The will of the Scottish people has to be listened to. I think it’s likely, given that Labour are entering a period of introspection and questioning their very purpose in life, the SNP is going to be the principle opposition to the Conservatives.”
With 56 MPs the SNP will likely get regular questions at Prime Minister’s Question Time and will also sit on every select committee in Westminster.
Yesterday Salmond called on the Prime Minister to scrap the Scotland Office.
In a column for The Courier, Salmond advised Cameron to not bother appointing sole Scottish Tory MP David Mundell as
Secretary of State for Scotland and said: “When you get to the Scottish Secretary instead of appointing, mark it down as ‘none of the above’.
“Abolish the Scotland Office altogether and demonstrate some understanding of the fundamental change that has taken place in Scotland.”
The monthly Scottish Questions in Parliament looks set to be an odd affair.
Under the current system the Secretary of State for Scotland will answer six questions from the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, while 56 SNP
MPs watch on from the back benches and are allowed to ask one question.
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