Constitutional issues are rarely not at the centre of things in Scotland and now, after a two-year period in which the government promised to focus on the pandemic, the question of independence is nearing the top of the agenda once again: Nicola Sturgeon has announced that her government plans to hold a second independence referendum in October 2023. There are those who regard this as a propitious moment for the first minister to have fired the starting gun; and then there are those who insist it is nothing short of reckless.
For the “terrible timing” contingent, the argument goes like this. After 15 years in power, the Scottish National party is exhausted and bereft of vision. Its self-image as a progressive, outward-looking party has been tarnished by its opacity and controlling tendencies. Moreover, a central plank of Sturgeon’s strategy – that the best way to win over soft no voters is by demonstrating competent devolved government – has been upended by a series of failures: on education, drug deaths and, most recently, delayed and over-budget ferries. The electorate, already crisis- and plebiscite-weary, is about to be hit by spiralling energy and food prices. The last thing it needs is more upheaval.
