So long as the union is centre stage, the SNP and Tories will benefit. It’s up to Labour to articulate a clear alternative
The Holyrood elections will be the “most important in Scotland’s history”, according to Nicola Sturgeon. She hopes to repeat the SNP’s 2011 performance and win an overall majority to claim a mandate for a second independence referendum. But the SNP is often coy about that mandate, preferring the more anodyne “choice about the future”, and it surrounds the commitment with caveats designed to reassure voters.
A referendum will only happen after the Covid crisis has passed and a citizens’ assembly has considered “the kind of country we want Scotland to be”. That leaves plenty of wriggle room, and is wide open to interpretation. It allows the SNP to appeal to supporters of independence without scaring away potential SNP voters who have reservations about it. It also gives the SNP some freedom to choose the time to push for a referendum.
