A senior SNP MP has admitted the chances of a second independence referendum any time soon are “slim” to “nil”.
First Minister in the latter part of this year, but former Holyrood justice secretary Kenny MacAskill says she has no chance of getting what she wants.
And in remarks likely to enrage some SNP colleagues, he insists a delay will be a good thing – since it will give the party a chance to plug gaps in its arguments that have been there since 2014.
MacAskill, elected MP for East Lothian at last month’s general election, told a magazine: “The likelihood of a referendum in the short-term is slim. Indeed, more likely nil.
“That additional time is no bad thing given the failure to have resolved some critical issues from 2014 or to have restored the campaigning machine that was so effective back then.”
Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly insisted he will not allow a second referendum.
Sturgeon says she has a mandate for a vote and Johnson has no right to decide Scotland’s future.
In the new issue of Scottish Left Review magazine, MacAskill urges those on the left of politics to unite against the Tories.
He says: “We face an attack upon the social infrastructure of our country.
“The welfare state and even the NHS are in Johnson’s sights, whatever pledges he has made.
“Far from rolling back the gig economy, it’s likely to morph into something larger.”
MacAskill called for anti-Tory parties in Scotland to get together to “address the high-level constitutional challenge and seek to
create unity, either behind independence or just the Scottish people’s right to choose their own future”.
