Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP have been urged to clarify their intentions for a possible repeat of the Scottish independence referendum, after Alex Salmond claimed a second vote was “inevitable”.
David Mundell, who was appointed as David Cameron’s Scottish Secretary after winning the only Conservative seat north of the border, said he wanted “clarity on the SNP position”.
Last September, the Scottish public voted “No” to independence by 55 per cent to 45 per cent, and the Tory minister told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme that it was not for the SNP to call for the process to be repeated.
Mr Salmond’s claims that there will be a second vote were echoed on Monday by the SNP’s chair, Derek Mackay, who said independence would be discussed at the party’s conference in Aberdeen.
And amid a growing debate, Mr Mundell accused Nicola Sturgeon of “not being very clear at all what her position is”.
“What I want to see is the clarity of the SNP position,” he said.
“They've said repeatedly that there isn't going to be a second referendum at official level; now we see all these MPs, Alex Salmond himself pushing for a second referendum,” Mr Mundell said. “Nicola Sturgeon needs to be absolutely clear. Scottish independence: Referendum results in pictures
“I don't think that it is for the SNP themselves to determine whether the people of Scotland are in favour of having another referendum.”
The Scottish Secretary has said there are no contingency plans for the possibility of a further referendum on independence after next year's Holyrood elections, despite opinion polls pointing towards a landslide SNP victory.
Shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray said: “Everyone agreed back in September when the referendum happened that this would be a once-in-a-generation opportunity, even a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“So to suggest that this may be in the SNP manifesto in just a few months' time I think would be wrong.”
He added: “What Derek Mackay didn't commit to was that it wouldn't be in the 2016 Scottish parliamentary election manifesto for the SNP.”
Additional reporting by agencies
