THE SNP MP Angus MacNeil has said the next Holyrood election in 2026 should be used as a “defacto” referendum on independence should one not take place in the current parliament.
MacNeil was not hopeful that Boris Johnson’s government will agree to a new vote having previously made clear he was not in favour of one until 2055, and after his own request last month for a Section 30 order was turned down. He said a likely rejection to a new request by the Scottish Government then left the prospect of indyref2 up to Holyrood and the Supreme Court. If the legal challenge was successful, he added the remaining option to decide Scotland’s constitutional future was the 2026 election.
READ MORE: Why the next Holyrood election should be a backstop independence vote
“If the Scottish Government does go through the motions of asking for a Section 30, I doubt any bookmaker would accept a bet on the inevitable outcome – which will be another flat ‘no’,” he wrote in The National. “This leaves us with the only hope that the Scottish Parliament has the powers to legislate for a referendum.
“We may... find out sooner or later that we cannot in fact have a referendum, as the Scottish Parliament is not strong enough.”
He added: “Now is the time to suggest solutions to the snooker problem.
“Obviously the ballot boxes will indeed have to speak and if they cannot be used in referendums then we should prepare to use the same ballot boxes for independence, directly, at the May 2026 election – the independence backstop vote.
“Such a policy would show the side led by Tory UK Government that the independence option cannot be taken off the table, and it might be better for them to fight independence at a referendum, and thus concede the referendum they currently feel they don’t have to, rather than an election where independence would be directly mandated.”
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