The Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon has accused Theresa May of arrogance, as she spoke to a final rally of supporters in Leith, declaring that the election is an opportunity to stop the Tories in their tracks. Four million Scottish voters will be heading to the polls tomorrow.
Election issues are debated by one of Scotland’s most eminent cultural figures, the crime writer and independence campaigner Val McDermid, and the new Lord Provost of Aberdeen, Barney Crockett, who’s also the former Labour leader of Aberdeen City Council and opposes independence.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says Theresa May called the election “to crush the opposition”, but has now shown herself to be the “weakest and most evasive leader in living memory”.
We are focusing on the final hours of a Scottish campaign that is far more about Brexit, and potentially affecting the balance at Westminster, than about independence, although that remains in many voters’ minds. I’ve been taking the temperature in the granite city of Aberdeen.
The latest poll of voting intentions in Scotland puts Labour and the Conservatives running neck-and-neck behind the SNP. Both have 25%, the SNP 43% and the Lib Dems just 5 per cent.
The Scottish National Party seem to have put the brakes on their drive for another referendum on independence, shunting it down their agenda until “the end of the Brexit process”. Launching the party’s manifesto today, Nicola Sturgeon said any attempts by the Conservatives to block Scotland having a choice would be “democratically unsustainable”.
Stephen Gethins, SNP Brexit spokesman, and Ian Murray, Labour’s only MP in Scotland.
The UK and Scottish Governments are at loggerheads tonight over a second independence referendum. This afternoon the Scottish Parliament demanded a vote within two years.
The Scottish Parliament votes to demand a second independence referendum.
Gary Gibbon
The government has toughened its line on a second Scottish independence referendum: Scotland may have to wait for Brexit to “bed in,” it may even have to wait for a transition period after Brexit before a second referendum can take place.
Gary Gibbon
Some in the Edinburgh administration detect a division in the May team on when a second referendum might have to be granted.
SNP MP Eilidh Whiteford on a second Scottish independence referendum.
The First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon has insisted that the will of the Scottish Parliament will prevail – a second referendum on independence will be held.
Another independence vote will happen, no matter what Westminster says, Scottish National Party leaders have declared.
Gary Gibbon
There’s a debate, not completely resolved, over just how hard No. 10 should push back the SNP on their chosen date for a second independence referendum.
