Nicola Sturgeon has accused the Tory Scottish Secretary of “making up constitutional rules as he goes along” after Alister Jack suggested there would have to be consistent 60 per cent support for a second independence referendum before Boris Johnson would agree to hold one.
Speaking at the regular covid update the First Minister dismissed the comments from the Scottish Secretary.
The SNP leader said: "We have a constitutional rules that are pretty well established in a democracy, which are if a party wins the election on a particular proposition it should get to implement that proposition.”
However, the legal powers to hold a referendum are reserved to the Westminster government.
But Conservative Ministers have changed tack on Boris Johnson’s flat refusal to grant a second vote since the SNP was returned to power in May’s Scottish elections.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove first signalled in early August that “if it is the case that there is clearly a settled will in favour of a referendum, then one will occur.”
When asked what a settled will would be Jack, a close cabinet colleague of Boris Johnson, on Friday put a figure of “60 percent” of Scots.
In an interview with Politico website, the Scottish Secretary said: “If you consistently saw 60 percent of the population wanting a referendum — not wanting independence but wanting a referendum — and that was sustained over a reasonably long period, then I would acknowledge that there was a desire for a referendum.”
Jack has previously suggested there should not be another referendum for 25 years.
He told Politico: “I think I’m broadly where the public are, which is that now is not the time to be having a referendum. We’ve had one, we’ve made our decision, let’s get on and rebuild the economy and rebuild people’s lives.”
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