Nicola Sturgeon has not ruled out holding another referendum despite Covid recovery
Indyref2: Nicola Sturgeon 'not ruling out' second vote says Greene
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SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has urged Scots to re-elect her as First Minister in May’s Holyrood election – promising “strong leadership” through the rest of the Covid-19 pandemic and a second independence vote in its aftermath. She said “when the crisis is over” Scots should have “the choice of a better future with independence”. But Scottish Conservative MSP Jamie Greene has slammed the first minister and insisted a referendum needs to be ruled out in the next session of parliament.
Speaking to BBC Scotland’s The Nine, Mr Greene said: “Nicola Sturgeon wants to hold a referendum, we don’t know what she’ll do next.
“Whether she will have one, whether it is legal or otherwise.
“There’s a big movement in the SNP who just want to crack on with a referendum regardless even with the Covid pandemic recovery.
“We didn’t hear her rule out another referendum any time soon.
“Frankly, she kept saying after the pandemic. When is after the pandemic?
“When is after tens of thousands of people have lost their lives?
“We need to rule out a referendum in the next session of the parliament.”
It comes Alex Salmond has said the SNP are showing a “lack of urgency” over Scottish independence.
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The Alba Party leader said they were going to tackle the “constitutional debate” following the suspension of the election campaign in the wake of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.
Mr Salmond has made one of his first overt broadsides against his former party and more specifically his former deputy.
Nicola Sturgeon has previously said she hopes another referendum on independence would take place in the first half of the parliamentary term – which would be by the end of November 2023 – however she told journalists last week that would not be the case if the country was still in the grip of a pandemic.
In a statement released on Monday, Mr Salmond said: “Nicola Sturgeon’s comments last week about an independence referendum in 2023 or later have caused total consternation in the national movement.
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“It seems to be that Scotland will not be free until after 2023, more seriously it seems to indicate a lack of urgency on bringing the independence question to a decision.”
The Alba Party, as with the SNP, consider Scottish independence as something that would aid the country in its recovery from the coronavirus, but Mr Salmond has said it is a “priority” for his party.
“The reality is that Scottish independence is not an alternative to economic recovery from Covid, it is an essential part of building a new, different and better society,” he said.
“For Alba, independence is the priority, which is why we are putting it front and centre in the election campaign.
“In the power balance that will emerge post election between Scotland and Westminster it is fundamentally true that Boris Johnson will find it substantially more difficult taking on a parliament with an independence supermajority representing a country than he will in framing the debate as party against party, Prime Minister against First Minister.”
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