Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon were engaged in a bitter stand-off last night after the prime minister rejected the SNP leader’s call for a second independence referendum.
The Tory leader insisted “now is not the time”, ruling out another poll until at least spring 2019.
Following Ms Sturgeon’s announcement on Monday that the Scottish Government would move to put the question to the people again, the megaphone diplomacy continued, with Mrs May finally throwing off the gloves.
In a game-changing intervention on the eve of the nationalists’ conference in Aberdeen, she said it would be “unfair” to ask the people of Scotland to make such a “crucial decision without the information they need”.
Nor would it be fair to the UK, she claimed, in the context of her government’s attempts to get the best possible outcome from the Brexit negotiations.
She added: “To be talking about an independence referendum will I think make it more difficult for us to get the right deal for Scotland and for the UK.
“I think now we should be putting all our energies into ensuring we can get that right deal. That’s my job as prime minister.
“Right now we should be working together, not pulling apart.
“For that reason, I say to the SNP, now is not the time.”
Moments before the announcement at First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon had challenged the Conservatives to set out their stance on a second poll as she demanded to know if they were “running scared”.
Afterwards she accused the prime minister, who will be in Cardiff today, of not listening to her proposal and said it was “like winding the clock back to the bad old days of Margaret Thatcher”.
The first minister also confirmed she intends to push ahead with the Scottish Parliament vote next week before putting her request for a section 30 order – the legal mechanism that allows for an independence vote to be called – to the UK Government formally.
And she insisted she was “determined” to hold a second poll “on my timescale”.
“History may look back on today and see it as the day the fate of the union was sealed,” she added.
“If the prime minister refuses to engage on the terms of a referendum before Brexit takes place, then she is effectively trying to block the people of Scotland having a choice over their future. That would be a democratic outrage.
“Any bid by the UK Government to block the people of Scotland from making a choice will be untenable, undemocratic and totally unsustainable – and clearly shows that the UK Government recognises it is out of step with the Scottish people.”
A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon also claimed a hard-line approach from the UK Government would be “disastrous” for a pro-Union campaign but confirmed the Scottish Government would be prepared to wait until 2021 to hold another vote.
Pressed on how long Mrs May was ruling out another referendum for, a UK Government source told the Press and Journal she was simply responding to the request made by the Scottish Government, adding: “It was an idea floated by them, not us.”
On Monday, Ms Sturgeon said the vote should take place between autumn next year and the spring of 2019.
“We are rejecting that proposal,” the source said and confirmed the government would say no to the section 30 request, rather than grant one with time constraints attached.
The question of whether a request to hold another referendum after Brexit would be accepted was dismissed as “totally hypothetical”.
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