SNP has no mandate for second independence referendum, says Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson

THE Scottish Government has no mandate to call a second independence referendum in Scotland, despite spending the last nine moths “ramping up” support for such a ballot, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has said.

She criticised Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP administration at Holyrood, accusing ministers of being “hell-bent” on breaking up the Union.

But the Scottish Tory insisted there is no popular support for a fresh ballot on independence, saying that with a vote having been held in 2014 Scots did not want to be “dragged back” to the constitutional question.

Scots rejected independence by 55% to 44% in September 2014, but since the Brexit vote last year – in which Scotland voted to remain in the European Union (EU) despite the rest of the UK voting to leave – there has been constant speculation that Ms Sturgeon will seek to hold another ballot.

The First Minister insists she has a “cast iron mandate” for such a vote, after the SNP Holyrood election manifesto in 2016 said a second referendum could be held if there was a material change in circumstances from the 2014 vote, such as Scotland being removed from the EU against its wishes.

However, Ms Davidson told BBC Radio Scotland: “They didn’t return a majority, they lost their majority in Parliament. She (Ms Sturgeon) also said she would only have a right to call one if she changed public opinion.

“Not only has public opinion not changed, but public opinion over whether to call a referendum has gone down and down and down.”

The Scottish Tory, who has led her party’s revival north of the border, said the Scottish Government had promised Scots that the 2014 referendum would be a “once in a generation” event.

Speaking on the Good Morning Scotland programme she said: “You’ve got a nationalist Government, hell-bent on breaking us up, they told us it was a once in a generation decision. They didn’t like the result.

“Before the Scottish election Nicola Sturgeon said if she didn’t move public opinion she would have, even by her own measure, she would have no right to call another one.

“All we’ve had for nine months is rhetoric after rhetoric after rhetoric. Ramping it up about how she is going to go for that second independence referendum.

“The Prime Minister is rightly saying that Nicola Sturgeon hasn’t shown that she has got public support for a second independence referendum.”

She said the First Minister had not yet asked for a Section 30 order, granting Holyrood the authority to hold an independence referendum, with Ms Davidson refusing to say if the UK Government should block such a request.

She asked why Tory politicians including herself, Theresa May and Scottish Secretary David Mundell should “say what our response would be to a hypothetical move the SNP hasn’t made yet”.

Ms Davidson stated: “The only person that helps is the nationalists who are trying to break up our country, and I am not prepared to do it.”

She continued: “That Section 30 hasn’t been asked for yet and I don’t think it should be asked for, because I don’t think that the First Minister, even by her own measure, has the right. She doesn’t have a mandate for it, she doesn’t have popular support for it and I think she will take a pretty big hit when you see how many people across Scotland don’t want to be dragged back to a second independence referendum.”

The Tory said: “My job right now is to stand up for the majority of Scots who say they do not want a second referendum, that is exactly what I’m doing.”