Scotland's 'Here and Now' vs SNP Referendums

To no one's surprise the UK Supreme Court has ruled that the Scottish Government (a coalition of SNP and Greens) cannot press ahead on its own with another referendum on Scotland leaving the UK.

In 2014 there was cross party political support in Scotland for a referendum, but that is not the case in 2022 and all the polling evidence says that a big majority of Scots currently have much bigger priorities than IndyRef2.

So will Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP accept reality and focus on the 'here and now'?

Time will tell, but I suspect not.

Scotland's 'Here and Now' vs SNP Referendums (November 22, 2022)

Here's an interesting article by James Mitchell, professor of public policy at Edinburgh University.

I suspect he's right about the importance of politicians focusing on public services, the economy and the 'here and now'. 

“The first minister was so dismissive of anyone who dared to suggest a de facto referendum made little sense that it might be awkward for her to reverse her decision. But there are a lot of ­people in the SNP who think it is a mistake.

“The SNP does not seem ready to rush into a referendum and has clearly still got some big questions to address on the economy, pensions, borders and so on.

“If the SNP fights the next election solely on independence and fails to get 50% of the vote, what next? Does that put the issue back for a generation or are they going to fight on that issue at the next election after that?

“We may be at a point where people begin to tire of this and, in the context of the cost-of-living crisis, say we need to focus on public services, the economy, on the here and now.”