Nicola Sturgeon has accused Labor of giving “proverbial two fingers” to Scottish voters, warning that regardless of who wins the Conservative leadership race, it is “virtually certain” that it would mean a new shift to the right for United Kingdom.
In launching the second in a series of documents aimed at presenting the substantive case of independence to the Scottish public, the Prime Minister said Keir Starmer’s insistence that it would block a second referendum if Labor won the next general election amounts to ” cynical political calculations “.
“In seeking Conservative votes in England, they are effectively giving the proverbial two fingers to Scotland,” he said. “It should come as no surprise that the people of Scotland still have a very dark view of this; the message from Labor in Scotland seems to be, ‘We don’t really care about you, you’re just lobbying and if you’re not you are ready to vote for us, your votes don’t matter ‘”.
Starmer has also said Labor will never reach an agreement with the Scottish National Party after a general election, in an effort to quell conservative attacks on a “chaos coalition”.
Taking questions from reporters at his official Bute House residence in Edinburgh, Sturgeon refused to “classify” candidates running to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative leader, but said whoever was chosen by the party would be “another Prime Minister of Scotland “. I voted for you ”.
“The change of Conservative leader seems almost certain to be accompanied by an even further shift to the right. And that means, of course, a change even further away from the mainstream of Scottish opinion and values,” he said.
Sturgeon said he envisions “a race to the bottom in taxes, cuts in public services and support for families, more attitudes towards Brexit, harming businesses and trade, abandoning the fight against climate change and a toxic cultural war, in fact totally fabricated, endangering equality and the protection of human rights ”.
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The SNP leader reiterated her claim that by asking the Supreme Court to rule on the legality of Holyrood legislating for another referendum, she was depriving Westminster of the opportunity to “enter into endless discussions about the process. “, stating that” we know the government and the unionist of the United Kingdom. ” the parties are afraid of the substantive debate on independence ”.
He added that the initial submission to the Supreme Court made by UK government lawyers earlier this week, who argued that he should reject the Scottish government’s request for a decision because it was premature, was proof that the government of the United Kingdom was not even willing to make a substantive decision. argumentation about the process.
The document sets out the Scottish Government’s view that “independence is the only realistic way to renew Scotland’s democratic institutions”, highlighting the ways in which Westminster is eroding and limiting Scotland’s democracy, and undermining an agreement. of return that is already too limited to allow Scotland to fully address the challenges of the future ”.