The Scottish National party could push for a second vote on independence if the next UK government implements tough spending and welfare cuts, the party’s deputy leader has suggested.
Stewart Hosie, a close ally of the SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, said pressure from Scottish voters for a new referendum would be hard to resist if Westminster failed to accommodate the SNP’s spending plans.
“I think the point we have to wait to see the outcome of this election [before deciding on a referendum] is absolutely correct,” Hosie told BBC Radio Scotland. “If we are in a really strong position at Westminster to end austerity, to demand legitimately more powers for Scotland north of what the Smith commission have proposed, we need to see how Westminster responds to that.”
Stoking up a simmering battle with Labour over its future dealings with the SNP, Hosie added that there would be a “very strong case” for the SNP to “trim, change and adjust” Labour’s first Queen’s speech if Scottish voters return a large group of SNP MPs on Thursday.
Earlier, Ed Miliband again categorically ruled out making any deals with the SNP, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he would not barter with “a separatist party who want to break up the country”.
Pressed later by reporters on whether he would have conversations with the SNP, as Hosie and Sturgeon are demanding, the Labour leader again stated there would be no deals or arrangements with Sturgeon’s party.
In a marked hardening of the SNP’s stance in the wake of Miliband’s outright veto on any talks, Hosie has now directly linked his party’s attitude towards calling for another independence vote after next year’s Holyrood elections with events at Westminster.
Sturgeon has repeatedly argued that the general election is not a vote on Scotland’s constitutional future, in an effort to reassure pro-union voters. On Sunday she insisted again that her party wanted to play a cooperative role with UK, English and Welsh parties.
After Sturgeon confirmed in a BBC leaders debate on Sunday night that the SNP could oppose a Labour Queen’s speech, Hosie was pressed on what would provoke his party to do so. Last year Sturgeon described the referendum as a “one-in-a-generation” event.
He said the price of SNP support for Labour would be a deal on the detail of any spending cuts plans or changes to the benefits system. The SNP wanted to support a Labour minority government “but there’s no blank cheque … Ed Miliband can’t take the SNP votes for granted,” he added.
Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, said Hosie’s warnings represented further evidence of how dangerous it would to have a minority Labour government dependent on SNP votes.
“Britain is facing the desperate prospect of a weak Labour government having its crutches kicked away by an SNP using every vote to make the case for independence,” Davidson said.
