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THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT “does not believe there should be a second referendum” on Scottish independence, Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokeswoman said today, following reports that she is making contingency plans for another vote.
Speculation is mounting that Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will declare her intention to hold a rerun of the September 2014 vote, as a poll published today revealed rising support for independence ahead of Britain’s departure from the European Union.
“We don’t believe that there should be a second referendum. There has been a referendum, it was clear, decisive, it was legal, and both sides agreed to abide by the results of that referendum,” May’s spokesman told journalists today.
Downing Street was responding to a report that it had told Scottish newspaper The Courier it was holding “contingency” talks to deal with a referendum announcement.
Scotland rejected independence by 55% in 2014, but 20 months later it voted to remain in the European Union by 62%, sparking calls for a fresh vote.
The battle over Scotland’s constitutional future is now almost an even split, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
Support has risen to 49%, excluding undecided voters, with 51% in favour of staying in the British union, a BMG poll for the Herald newspaper said.
The poll was conducted after May confirmed her intention to take Britain out of the European single market.
‘Game on’
Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), has said a second independence referendum is now “highly likely”, and allies have suggested it could be as early as 2018.
Former SNP leader Alex Salmond tweeted a picture of the Herald’s front page story on the poll, saying: “Game on…”
The SNP said the latest poll showed the independence debate is now “a virtual dead heat”.
“If the Tories continue with their blind pursuit of a hard Brexit, ignoring the clear view of an overwhelming majority of people in Scotland, then more and more people will see independence as the option delivering certainty and stability,” said SNP chair Derek Mackay.
Conducted among 1,067 voters aged over 16, the poll asked: “Should Scotland be an independent country?” with 43% saying “Yes” and 45% saying “No”. The remainder were undecided or would not say.
It represents a three-point swing towards independence from a similar BMG/Herald poll conducted in December.
However, the survey also found 56% of Scots do not want another independence referendum before the conclusion of Brexit negotiations, expected in 2019.
The Scottish parliament, in a symbolic motion, voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to reject Britain’s march towards the EU exit, with the semi-autonomous government warning Scotland would not be “humiliated”.
The Scottish government said the vote – backed by nearly three quarters of Scottish lawmakers from across the political spectrum – is one of the most important in the parliament’s 18-year history.
May warned today that an independent Scotland “would not be in the European Union.”
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Unbeknownst? Time for these companies to be hammered for such “errors”.
@Ed: That’s usually the case in leaks. The company often gets alerted by people who suffered from the leak a year or so after the fact.
BTW this site is a handy way to search the lists of publicly known leaks: https://haveibeenpwned.com/
@John Murphy: my iPhone told me I was owned when I tried to log into a website the other day and suggested I change the password there. A government website as well but not in Ireland.
“700,000 documents dating from 2014 to 2017 were stored in the folder, including some passports, drivers’ licenses and compliance-related forms”
So nothing is private any more, all our private information is now floating around cyber space freely available to criminals.
Will anybody be held to account?? will customers be compensated?? Joke of a country, can do nothing right. Those responsible should be face criminal charges.
@SteveBuzzard: what’s the “country” got to do with a private company. They should have deleted most of this info though, according to GDPR rules.
@Eugene Norman: Not true. GDPR does not put any time scale on how long companies have to hold data. The Data Protection Act requires them to delete it 7 years after the end of the relationship with the individual so actually very little of it should have been deleted
I thought they are supposed to delete verification documents after a certain period… Not keep them.
Prosecutions? I imagine not of course.
@Franky Jefferson: yeah, all customer data can only be stored for a maximum of 6 months.
@Peter Cavey: Incorrect. GDPR does not put a time frame how long companies can hold you’re data. The Data Protection Act requires companies to delete data after 7 years
@Peter Cavey: Incorrect. Best not comment without correct facts
@M. Murphy: People do be getting very heated about GDPR.
Was it leaky Leo
@Marty Lawless: who?? Oh.. you mean Leako Varadkar
The statement that there is no evidence that the data was accessed rings false when you consider it was an external, independent company that found the data publicly accessible. Unless the server itself was publicly available on the cloud, a serious data security error in of itself, the data had to be accessed for it to have become publicly available.
“700,000 documents dating from 2014 to 2017 were stored in the folder, including some passports, drivers’ licenses and compliance-related forms”
So nothing is private any more, all our private information is now floating around cyber space freely available to criminals.
Will anybody be held to account?? will customers be compensated?? Joke of a country, can do nothing right. Those responsible should face criminal charges.
@SteveBuzzard: Oh FFS don’t be so dramatic. Yes they will be held accountable. The company will be investigated and sanctioned by the Central Bank and the Data Protection Commissioner. As for compensation unless there is evidence that anyone has suffered a loss or damage as a result of the leak then no they will not be compensated as there is no loss or damage to be compensated for
The more info one has to provide the greater the leak! Convoluted EU nonsensical process management at its finest.
Did you purposely forget to mention the Irish times to plug our own.
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