Press urge Number 10 to respect the will of Holyrood
As Number 10 surveys the political landscape following Nicola Sturgeon’s declaration that she will seek the powers needed to hold a second independence referendum in Scotland, the papers north of the border are united in one sense – Theresa May cannot and should not disrupt the will of the Scottish parliament.
In its editorial today, The Scotsman notes that while the First Minister’s announcement yesterday was ‘no surprise’, it nevertheless ‘brings home the enormity of the political turmoil into which we are being thrown’.
Noting that while the Prime Minister has the legal right to scupper any referendum, the paper argues that she ‘should not do that’, and ultimately could not do so ‘without creating dangerous division’, and that includes allowing the SNP to have the vote within the time-frame it has laid down.
The UK government, the paper notes, ‘has to understand that what is now in motion has to be allowed, short of some last-minute agreement, or democracy will be failed’.
It concludes by declaring that any referendum would need to be fought on facts, and a proper understanding of the implications of remaining in a post-EU UK and the impact of a post UK Scotland.
The Herald warns that given the state of the polls, Nicola Sturgeon is embarking on ‘a massive gamble with the future of her party and with her own career’.
But it notes that in seizing the initiative managed to put Theresa May on the ‘back foot’ and shoe herself to be ‘Scotland’s most skilful politician and one who is unafraid of making bold gestures’.
In the Daily Record today, its editorial calls on the SNP to ‘honestly spell out their prospectus and the cost of independence’.
‘Once demanded and passed by the Scottish parliament’, the paper argues, ‘it will be almost impossible for Theresa May to decline the First Minister’s request to hold another IndyRef’.
Calling for a better debate that the one held the last time Scotland voted on its future, the Daily Record continues:
“Relying on a combination of vague promises and speculative economics dressed up as patriotic rhetoric was not enough last time and, despite the evidence of Brexit and Trump, it should not be adequate this time either.
That puts all the pressure on the SNP to honestly spell out their prospectus and the cost of independence.”
The independence supporting National paper meanwhile has focussed on the broken politics that means Scotland needs to go it alone:
“’Politics isn’t a game,’ David Mundell [Scottish Secretary] insisted on Channel 4 News last night, seemingly forgetting that we got here because of some ridiculous wager between the old Etonians in the last Tory Cabinet.
Meanwhile, all Labour have talked about for the last two years is Labour. They are obsessed with talking about themselves. And they are breathtakingly incompetent. […]
UK politics is broken. For those of us on this side of the constitutional debate, independence is simply a way of fixing it.”
In Northern Ireland, an editorial in the Belfast Telegraph today warns that Nicola Sturgeon’s actions ‘will raise the stakes for unionism here, and it is no surprise either that Sinn Fein has repeated its call for a border poll’. It continues:
“The issues around Brexit are complex, but also very clear. This was a nationwide referendum, the people have spoken, and they have voted to leave the EU.
As in Scotland, a majority of people in Northern Ireland wanted to stay in Europe, but that is one element of the result, and not the result itself.
However, we have significant elements of the result to consider in the province, including relations with the Republic and the realities of a hard or soft border.
Calls for a border poll make the possibility of agreement at Stormont less likely.”
Ed Jacobs is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward
3 Responses to “IndyRef2: Here’s how Scotland’s newspapers reacted to Nicola Sturgeon’s speech”
Alasdair Macdonald
“Relying on a combination of vague promises and speculative economics dressed up as patriotic rhetoric….”
This is from the Daily Record, the paper which dreamt up the mendacious ‘VOW’ signed by Messrs Cameron, Clegg and Milliband. Later it refers to Trump and provides this example of ‘post truth journalism.’ It calls on Scotland to produce a detailed and costed document on independence (which the SNP provided last time), but it makes no such demand of Mrs May and her government as to what ‘Brexit’ will entail.
Hubris and bombast – no wonder this paper is sliding down the tubes.
Ronald Makin
Scotland has no chance of joining the EU. Firstly the economic state of Scotland is in a dire situation and they would fail on this issue and secondly the Governments of Spain and Belgium would object to Scotlands membership. Without the regular payments under the Barnett formula the Scottish economy would collapse . The English tax payers are financing free University places in Scotland and without doubt are financing the economy in Scotland. Nicola Sturgeon please look at the facts.
Julia Gibb
A fair debate when the BBC/Sky and every major newspaper a unionist biased and blast out state propaganda day after day.
The financial stats are “fixed” to give a false/misleading picture of Scotland’s economy.
The state promotes sectarian division to maintain control.
This is not about maintaining a union. This is about the elite retaining control. The one percent of one percent who run the UK as a private business.