THE Scottish independence movement is at a crossroads says former first minister Alex Salmond.
According to the Alba Party leader, the Yes movement cannot afford to sit back and lose momentum in the wake of an IPOS MORI poll stating 56% of Scots would now vote for independence.
Salmons has said it is “time to drive through or around the Westminster roadblock” on a second indyref.
He made the remarks in advance of his party’s independence “Way Forward” conference which is being held on Saturday in Perth.
The Independence Conference is titled “Scotland’s Way Forward” and is in response to the Supreme Court’s decision that Holyrood does not have the power to legislate for a referendum on Scottish independence without Westminster’s consent.
Commenting, Salmond said that the “arrogance of the UK Supreme Court ruling has ignited further independence support” but added that the “national movement must take advantage of that momentum to find the route past or through the referendum roadblock”.
He continued: “We should remember that the referendum route is not fundamental to Scotland’s independence case. I introduced it to the SNP in 1997 as a way to enable the Scottish Parliament to first come into being and subsequently secure the election of the first ever independence supporting Government.
“The pursuit of a referendum has served the independence movement well for the past 25 years but as a result of the Scottish Government’s decision to submit the case to the UK Supreme Court, it has hit a roadblock. The movement now needs to decide if it is going to drive through that barrier or around it, but what we cannot concede, is that we should sit still and do nothing for the next two years to the next UK election. There are a number of viable tactics.
“The Supreme Court has ruled there can’t be an independence referendum but not that there can’t be a referendum. The Scottish Parliament still has the power to hold lawful referenda. Then there is SNP-favoured option to turn an election into a defacto referendum but if so, a decision has to be made whether Westminster or Holyrood is tactically the right poll. Then there is the case for a campaign of parliamentary intervention to force the UK Government to accept Scotland’s right of self-determination or an appeal to the international courts or international opinion."
