A GROUP of leading pro-independence figures have sent a message to Keir Starmer over his dismissal of a second Scottish independence referendum should the SNP win in 2026.
The Prime Minister dismissed the idea of an independence vote if the SNP get a majority at next year's Holyrood elections when he spoke to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme earlier this week.
He claimed there was a need for Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom in order to remain safe, as he released his defence review in a visit to Govan.
Despite how John Swinney has established his strategy as building "demonstrable support" for independence through Government, Starmer said no-one had raised the subject with him “as their first priority”.
His comments came after a Norstat poll suggested that support for independence was at 54%, but would rise to almost 60% if Reform UK leader Nigel Farage took power at Westminster.
Now, a group of leading figures in the independence movement have accused Starmer of "snubbing" democracy and devolution.
Among those to have signed the letter include journalist and National columnist Lesley Riddoch, Believe in Scotland (BiS) founder Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp and Common Weal's head of policy and research Dr Craig Dalzell.
It reads: "Sir Keir Starmer’s offhand dismissal of Scotland’s right to choose its own constitutional future is predictable yet hugely disappointing.
"So this is a statement of our intent to keep campaigning for independence, an option currently favoured by more than half the Scottish population in recent opinion polls, and for the democratic right to choose – something embedded in legislation for Northern Ireland but repeatedly denied to Scotland."
The group continued: "The Labour leader may think he is simply challenging the SNP before a critical by-election this week and Scottish elections next year. But Scotland’s future is not an electoral game.
"By denying a second referendum regardless of the 2026 election outcome, the Prime Minister is snubbing democracy, devolution and the many Scots who once viewed his party as the best democratic option to the Conservatives at Westminster."
The group said that Labour, the Conservatives and Reform UK "clearly offer no democratic resolution to Scotland's constitutional impasse".
The letter adds that this is "precisely why we restate our determination to keep working towards independence".
The following individuals signed the letter:
- Lesley Riddoch, journalist
- Dr Craig Dalzell, head of policy and research, Common Weal
- Ian Grant, Independence Forum Scotland
- Dr Tim Rideout, convener, Scottish Currency Group
- Elise Tallaron, convener,Yes for EU
- Mary Sinclair, Yes Caithness
- Fraser Thompson, Time for Scotland
- Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, Business for Scotland
- Robert Furness, Yes Greater Glasgow
- Adrian Doherty, Yes Linwood
- Andrew Wilson, Scottish Independence Foundation
- Stewart Kerr Brown, Yes West Lothian
- Roza Salih, convener, Scottish Independence Convention
- Jacqui Jensen, Yes Perth
- Ken Macdonald. former BBC Scotland presenter
- Lloyd Quinan, Yes Craigmillar and Niddrie
- Mary McCabe, Pensioners for Indy
- Fatima Joji, Women for Indy
- Stephen Shilton, Christians for Indy
- Cameron McNeish, mountaineer and author
The letter was also signed by the following regional campaign groups from Believe in Scotland: Aberdeen and Grampian, Argyll and Bute, Ayrshire, Central Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee and Angus, Edinburgh and Lothians, Fife, Inverclyde, Highlands and Moray, Mid Scotland, Orkney Islands, Scottish Borders and South Lanarkshire.
It comes after Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said that it was "a bit rich" for Starmer to make such comments on Scotland's constitutional future.
When asked by The National if it was a political tactic from Starmer to suggest that Swinney was not focused on independence, she said: "It’s hardly a surprise that Keir Starmer is repeating what we’ve heard from Tory prime ministers for years, the day after we saw an increase in support for independence if Nigel Farage becomes prime minister.
"It seems a bit rich to be telling the people of Scotland what they are saying when their greatest concern is that the change that was promised by Labour hasn’t happened at all, opening the door to Nigel Farage."
