London
Speaking to BBC public television Sunday, the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) said Scotland was currently “suffering” because it was not independent.
“We are suffering because we have an economic model of Westminster (the seat of the British Parliament), a failed economic model that harms our people and a stagnant economy, which rarely grows because of the economic disaster that Westminster has imposed on Scotland,” he said.
Call a new consultation from 2024
As he said yesterday as part of a special SNP conference, if his party achieves a majority of seats in the next general election – due in 2024 – it can start negotiating with the government in London about calling a new consultation.
“The party that wins the majority of seats, of course, wins the general election,” Yusuf said, lamenting that they are currently “deprived” of the option of being able to hold those consultations, despite the fact that there is a “pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament.”
In the absence of a second referendum, Yusuf believes that “the next way to investigate the independence proposal is of course to hold general elections. And the rules for general elections are very simple.”
I am not saying that if I win this election, Scotland will suddenly become independent. What I am saying is that, through democratic and legitimate means, we have begun negotiations with the UK government on how to give a democratizing effect to this proposal.
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