News / Politics

Scottish party leaders clash over independence

Thursday, 09 April 2015 3:10 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 09 April 2015 3:10 PM ]

A screenshot of Scottish leaders' debate on Wednesday.

Scottish political party leaders fight it out during a heated debate on a Wednesday night television program.

Following last week’s British general election debates, it was the turn of their Scottish counterparts to battle it out between them, putting their cases forward to the Scottish people.

The debate was naturally dominated by the likelihood of another Scottish independence referendum. After being pressed by the party leaders, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was not planning to hold another referendum unless “something material changed.”

The ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) has previously stated that they do not intend to hold another referendum any time soon, believing it to be a “once in a generation” event.

Embattled Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy took this opportunity to go on the offensive, to try and stop the hemorrhaging of votes from Labour towards the SNP. He attacked Sturgeon on her apparently ambiguous stance on holding another referendum.

Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie also challenged Sturgeon on Scottish independence, focusing on the unpredictability of the oil markets and the North Sea. He said that "Nicola Sturgeon has got a nerve to continue to argue for a policy that was soundly trounced in the referendum."

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson attacked Sturgeon’s refusal to rule out another independence referendum, saying it would be going back on her party’s word. But Nicola Sturgeon was adamant that events might determine the referendum, saying, "Perhaps if the Tories wanted to drag us out of the European Union against our will, for example. That might change the circumstances."

The debate focused on other issues as well, such as the desire to push for full fiscal autonomy of the Scottish Parliament. Nicola Sturgeon pressed Jim Murphy on this point, but the Scottish Labour leader was adamantly against it, advocating a “pooling and sharing” of resources, saying that in hard times, certain regions of the UK can help out others through the wide net of taxation and spending.

The party leaders have less than a month to convince the people of Scotland to vote for them and as things stand, the SNP looks set to have the biggest smile in the country on May 7th.

LM/GHN

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