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The Scottish National Party leader in Westminster has accused Conservative MPs of denying Holyrood the powers to hold a second independence referendum because “trade unionism has run out of way.”
Ian Blackford told the SNP online conference: ‘The UK they are advocating for no longer exists and they have no idea how to reimagine or reinvent it … Conservatives are panicking, unwilling to accept the truth that the Most of the people of Scotland now want an independent future. “
Referring to the UK government’s insistence that it will not grant the required section 30 order for the Scottish Parliament to legally hold another vote, as well as its plans for a UK-wide internal market post-Brexit, Blackford said: “Instead of listening to the will of the Scottish people, the Tories are trying to deny democracy and destroy devolution.”
Blackford spoke before a motion Sunday morning affirming the party’s commitment to independence, which some activists have called “insipid” amid growing frustration that the SNP leadership is overriding the debate focused on the strategy of the referendum.
A vote on the resolutions excluded from the conference, including the so-called Plan B route to a second referendum and the development of a Scottish pound, will take place at an alternative event that will also take place online on Sunday.
Introducing the resolution on an independent future for Scotland, SNP constitutional relations secretary Mike Russell told delegates that his government would present the necessary legislation to hold another referendum prior to the Holyrood election next May and ” we will ask the people of Scotland to specifically support [it] In the elections “.
In a warning to the most impatient activists, Russell said: “There are many good ideas from BZ [but] nothing can happen unless the SNP is in government ”. Referring to the US elections this month, he noted that in dealing with Donald Trump’s refusal to accept democratic results, Joe Biden “did not compare it to threats or demands.”
But other speakers challenged the party to take immediate action. Former MP Roger Mullin said arguments to convince voters of independence “must dominate policy-making,” telling delegates: “We have a lot of work to do and the party has not been doing enough.”
Joanna Cherry, a vocal advocate for the need to develop political positions and have answers to the questions that thwarted the last independence campaign, encouraged members to vote for candidates for the party’s governing body to “continue planning and free the first minister to focus on the Covid crisis ”.
