Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation celebrated by Scots in Glasgow
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The SNP’s dreams of Scottish independence are “in free fall” with the departure of Nicola Sturgeon as party leader and First Minister, a veteran politician has claimed. Former Member of the Scottish Parliament Brian Montieth made his comments as the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn called for “a pause” in controversial plans to hold a special conference to rework the party’s independence strategy.
Mr Flynn was recently elected as Westminster leader after Ms Sturgeon’s ally Ian Blackford was deposed by the SNP MPs in an early sign that her authority was waning.
And SNP MPs had led the way in protesting against her plans to drop the strategy of winning a referendum on independence and turning the Westminster election next year into a “de facto” one.
Now with Ms Sturgeon set to depart the scene, Mr Flynn is pushing for a “pause” for the conference which was set to take place on March 19 to debate Ms Sturgeon’s proposal and an alternative one to turn the Holyrood election into a de facto referendum.
Mr Flynn told the BBC: “In my view, that conference should be paused, we should allow our new leader the opportunity and the space to set out their vision and their priorities domestically but also give them the space to chart their course when it comes to that pathway to independence.”
Previously, Glasgow South MP Stewart McDonald, who had been considered a close ally of Ms Sturgeon’s, also came out strongly against her plans and the proposals at the special conference.
His rebellion was also a signal that Ms Sturgeon’s iron grip on her party had come to an end.
He has warned that the options have “the potential for all sorts of problems for the cause” and “will not deliver independence”.
Speaking to BBC Good Morning Scotland today, the Glasgow South MP added: “I think part of the reason why we are stuck at the moment and that there is this miasma of impatience – impatience that I share entirely – is because support for independence isn’t yet clearly the sustained majority opinion in Scotland.
“I think that is the problem that we need to fix with some urgency before we go into the next election.”
Mr Monteith, who was an MSP for the Conservatives between 1999 and 2007 and later a Brexit Party MEP, said: “Nationalists are in freefall but the answer is simple enough.
“Instead of falling out over how to give Scotland a referendum the people don’t want the SNP should follow its own calls for new elections when a political leader resigns.
He pointed out that the SNP had demanded fresh elections when Boris Johnson and Liz Truss were forced to resign.
He said: “Holding fresh Holyrood elections would give Scots their say over a new First Minister and a voice over the SNP’s gender politics. SNP politicians wanted a general election when Boris and Truss were replaced so they should stay true to their beliefs and seek a fresh endorsement from the Scottish people.
“Of course, they won’t because the last thing they want is being held to account for the utter mess Sturgeon made of running Scotland.”
In October last year when Ms Struss was forced out the then Westminster SNP leader Mr Blackford, a close ally of Ms Sturgeon’s Tweeted: “It was inevitable Liz Truss would have to go after all the damage she’s inflicted – but merely swapping leaders of a broken and chaotic Tory government is not enough.
“There must now be a general election. People will accept nothing less.”
Holyrood has fixed term elections but an election can be triggered if Members of the Scottish Parliament fail to elect a new First Minister.
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