The Supreme Court’s judgment has “galvanised” the Scottish independence movement, Nicola Sturgeon will say as she accuses opposition parties of making a “catastrophic miscalculation”.
The court ruled this week that the Scottish Parliament cannot legally legislate to stage a second referendum without the approval of Westminster.
First Minister Ms Sturgeon has since set out plans to use the next general election, to be held no later than January 2025, as a de facto referendum on the constitutional question.
In her capacity as leader of the SNP, Ms Sturgeon is expected to tell party members that the independence campaign has been “strengthened” by the judgment – despite her political rivals insisting the ruling should mean issues like the NHS and the cost-of-living crisis should now be her priority.
Addressing the SNP’s annual St Andrew’s dinner in Glasgow on Friday evening, she is expected to say: “Wednesday’s judgment from the Supreme Court has galvanised the Yes movement right across Scotland.
“Thousands of people took to the streets – in freezing Scottish winter weather – to demonstrate their support for Scottish democracy.”
Ms Sturgeon will reiterate her statement that the idea of a “voluntary union of nations” is a “myth” that has now been “permanently shattered”.
She is expected to hit out at the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats – who all welcomed the Supreme Court decision.
She will say: “The so-called partnership of equals is anything but. Tory, Labour, Lib Dem – they’re all joined at the hip. They now have to defend the indefensible.
Nicola Sturgeon is stuck in a nationalist echo chamber, pandering to the minority and oblivious to the concerns of the outside world— Donald Cameron, Scottish Conservative
“If they thought that this outcome would be helpful to them, they have made a catastrophic miscalculation.
“The inconvenient truth for Westminster is that much as they would prefer otherwise, the Scottish independence movement is not going away.
“Indeed, it is growing. It is strengthening. And it is winning. Because it is now as much a democracy movement as an independence movement.”
Closing her speech, she will tell party members that the ruling will help convince those on the fence about independence that Scotland should decide its own future.
“The more people down in Westminster boast to people in Scotland that they have no right to decide their own future, the more people in Scotland will stand up and demand that basic democratic right,” she will say.
Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Donald Cameron said: “People will be dismayed that Nicola Sturgeon is doubling down on the nationalists’ obsession, rather than getting back to the day job and tackling the urgent concerns of most Scots.
“The inconvenient truth for her is that the Scottish public don’t want independence – and have already rejected it.
“They certainly don’t want another divisive referendum that the court has ruled out, when the SNP Government should be focused on helping them through a global cost-of-living crisis.
“Nicola Sturgeon is stuck in a nationalist echo chamber, pandering to the minority and oblivious to the concerns of the outside world.”
