ALISTER Jack has claimed it is “obvious” that the people of Scotland can have their say on independence in a referendum – and laid out what he sees as a route to a second vote.
The lines come from a letter sent to the SNP’s depute leader at Westminster, Mhairi Black, who was writing exclusively for The National.
Black said she had chased up the Prime Minister after he had refused to address, when asked at PMQs by SNP MP Philippa Whitford, to “explain the democratic route by which the people of Scotland can choose whether to stay [in the UK] or not?”
However, almost two months later a reply to Black’s follow-up request came not from Rishi Sunak, but from his Scottish Secretary, Alister Jack.
Black said that Jack’s letter was “filled with the usual Tory jargon about pulling our resources together and working constructively as an equal partner in the United Kingdom”, but it also laid out his idea of a route to indyref2.
Jack’s letter stated: “It is obvious that the people of Scotland can have their say in an independence referendum because that is precisely what happened in 2014 when they voted decisively to remain part of the UK.
“In 2014, both the UK Government and the Scottish Government agreed that it was the right thing for the people of Scotland to have their say in an independence referendum, and there was also consensus from Scottish political parties, civic society and people across Scotland. That is not the case at this time.”
The top Tory’s comments echo what he said in November when being quizzed by the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster.
At that meeting, Jack said the “duck test” would make it clear when the majority consensus for indyref2 had been reached.
The said: “It’s the duck test. If it looks like a duck and it sounds like a duck and it waddles like a duck then it’s probably a duck. People know when they’ve reached that point.
“They knew back then [in 2014] that they’d reached it. We don’t believe we’ve reached it now.”
In her column, Black commented: “It is not for the people of Scotland to decide our future then, it is for them to decide.”
“Are we to be at the mercy of the UK’s political party branch offices for eternity when it comes to Scotland’s democratic rights?” she added.
Read Mhairi Black’s full column about chasing up the UK Government for an answer on indyref2 here.
