A Voice for Scotland's Anti-Nationalist Majority
It is a commonly touted assertion of the SNP that all elections, Westminster or devolved, will be referendums on independence and if they achieve a majority of some kind then this will give them a mandate for independence. But what does ‘mandate’ actually mean?
A standard definition (via Google) of a mandate is:
The authority to carry out a policy, regarded as given by the electorate to a party or candidate that wins an election.
The UK Government should stop gambling with its territorial, economic, cultural and social integrity.
A couple of weeks ago, Alister Jack, the Secretary of State for Scotland, said that Scots could have a second ‘independence’ referendum if polls showed a consistent majority of 60% of Scots in favour of it. Gambling your country's future on the basis of opinion polls is certainly an interesting strategy, but, as I was getting ready to publish this article, the UK Government finally pushed back on Jack’s comments, saying, ‘We’ve never set a position on that. We haven’t said any sort of target. Our view, as set out, is that now is simply not the time to be dealing with this.’