THE reason given in the calling notice sent out by the Scottish Government’s communication team to alert journalists to yesterday’s press conference in Edinburgh was for the First Minister and the Brexit Secretary to unveil new research findings on the impact of the PM’s Brexit deal on Scotland.
But in the fine surroundings of the Bute House drawing room there was really only one thing reporters wanted to know: when will the FM call a second independence referendum?
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon addresses nation on question of infyref2 plans
Nicola Sturgeon said last year she would give an update on her plans for a new vote at the end of the Brexit negotiations.
Now with the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration on future relations between the UK and EU signed off by EU leaders, there is mounting expectation on her to make her move.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: case for independence 'immeasurably' stronger since Brexit
In media interview after media interview, she is being repeatedly asked, what’s going to happen next, and when?
Yesterday, the first question posed – from the BBC’s Brian Taylor – was about a new independence referendum and its likelihood. The last – from ITV Border’s Peter MacMahon – was about the timing of a new vote.
Pointing to a portrait of Robert Burns, hanging on a wall behind her, MacMahon could not refrain from quoting the Bard’s words, asking: “You are in front of Robert Burns there. Is it not ‘now’s the day, now’s the hour?’”
In between those two questions, a substantial majority of the others were also on the very same issue.
They included one from The National – would a “new referendum be off the table” in the event of a Norway Plus-style model being agreed? This Brexit arrangement is supported by the Scottish Government as a “compromise” allowing the UK to maintain single market and customs union membership.
Essentially, the First Minister gave the same answer to everyone. She said, yes, the negotiations are over, but there is significant uncertainty surrounding what is going to happen over the coming weeks and until that crisis has settled it would not be right and “in Scotland’s interests” to call a vote.
She drew attention to the strong prospect of the PM’s deal being defeated in the Commons, and the unpredictability of what would happen afterwards: a second attempt by May to get it through before Christmas; another EU referendum; a General Election? Could the UK end up staying in the single market customs union after all?
Officially, the press conference was to set out the findings on Brexit’s impact on Scotland, but to me the event was all about the First Minister speaking to the nation. To those not convinced about independence, she wanted to explain why it is needed. To Yessers she wanted to reassure them she will act when she believes the time is right. Her attack on May’s Government over its treatment of Scotland in the Brexit process suggests that time may well be very soon.
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