UK Government will reject SNP request for second independence vote

THE UK Government will reject a request from the Scottish Government for a second referendum on independence.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said it would not enter into “discussions or negotiations” on a request for the legal power to hold a vote.

It comes after Prime Minister Theresa May said “now is not the time” for another ballot.

Mr Mundell said: “This argument isn’t about mandates, it’s about holding a referendum on established criteria which were set on in the Edinburgh Agreement.

“That established that a referendum must be legal, fair and decisive.

“The proposal brought forward is not fair, people will not be able to make an informed choice.

“Neither is there public or political support for such a referendum.

“Therefore we will not be entering into discussions or negotiations about a section 30 agreement and any request at this time will be declined.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she wants a new vote before a deal on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union is finalised.

She has said she does not want a referendum now, but when the terms of Brexit are clear and “before it is too late to choose an alternative path”.

Speaking alongside Mr Mundell at a press conference in Edinburgh, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said: “We reject conclusively the timetable for a referendum set out by the Scottish Government for a key reason – because it is unfair to Scottish voters.

“We’ve just come through a referendum campaign where a key complaint among many people was that they did not have the necessary information to help them make an informed decision.

“If we were to keep to the First Minister’s timetable this is exactly what would happen in Scotland too. On the most important political decision a country can make we would be voting blind.

“I believe that it’s only right that people should have the opportunity to examine the UK’s new relationship with the European Union once it is up and running.

“People should only be asked to make a judgment on whether to leave or remain within a 300-year-old union of nations when they have seen for themselves how that union is functioning following Brexit.

“They should also know what the alternative entails and we have seen no clarity from the SNP on even the basic questions of their proposition.”

Earlier, Theresa May told ITV News’s Robert Peston: “Right now we should be working together, not pulling apart.

“We should be working together to get that right deal for Scotland, that right deal for the UK, as I say that’s my job as Prime Minister and so for that reason I say to the SNP: now is not the time.”