Scottish nationalists promise new independence campaign — RT World News
If the SNP wins the majority of seats, Prime Minister Humza Yousaf has promised to open secession negotiations with London
The Scottish National Party (SNP) will immediately begin negotiations with the UK government to leave the UK if it wins a majority of Scottish seats in next year’s general election, under a new strategy signed by the First Secretary Humza Yousaf.
Drafted by the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, the strategy is outlined in a motion approved by Yousaf earlier this week, which will be debated at a party conference in Aberdeen next month.
The motion states that if the SNP wins a majority of seats in Scotland, “The Scottish Government is empowered to enter into immediate negotiations with the UK Government to give democratic effect to Scotland and become an independent country,” iNews reported Thursday.
The motion also explains that Scottish lawmakers would publish a document outlining the terms of independence talks, as well as a “draft legal text on the transfer of skills” of Westminster.
Under Yousaf’s predecessor, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland held a referendum on leaving the United Kingdom in 2014. Although the public voted 55% to 44% in favor of remaining in the United Kingdom, Sturgeon and Yousaf both claimed that support for independence had increased since Britain left the EU in 2014. 2016, with Sturgeon promising a second referendum last year, and Yousaf now proposing that her party could launch directly into the talks if he is elected.
Yousaf also promised he would seek EU membership if Scotland achieved independence.
Successive British Conservative prime ministers have said they will not agree to a second referendum. Asked on Friday if he thought Labor leader Keir Starmer would be more open to negotiations, he said “This is really a question for Keir Starmer.”
“If the Scottish people give us another mandate, that of giving independence a democratic effect, who are they to refuse it to the Scottish people? He continued.
Yousaf added that since Westminster is unlikely to approve a second referendum, “We must take advantage of the next elections to achieve this.”
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Yousaf’s strategy has been heavily criticized, with former SNP leader Alex Salmond telling reporters on Friday that “No one seriously believes that proposing a majority of seats as a mandate for independence is credible. »
“Given that Westminster has been allowed, in repeated elections, to reject a majority of SNP seats as a mandate for a simple referendum, why on earth would they have conceded it as a mandate to negotiate independence itself ? asked Salmond.
Eight of ten major polls since mid-June show negative public support for independence, with one poll tied and another showing a narrow lead of 48-45% for the pro-independence camp.
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