Swinney vows he will not ‘kowtow to Downing Street’ over Scottish independence
Katrine Bussey, Press Association Scotland political editor
John Swinney has vowed not to “kowtow to 10 Downing Street” after Westminster dismissed calls for a second Scottish independence referendum.
The First Minister said he will use the “independence majority” in the Scottish Parliament – with 73 of the 129 MSPs now backing leaving the UK – to “deliver independence”.
MSPs backed a motion earlier his week from Mr Swinney demanding the UK Government hand over powers to enable a fresh referendum.
A Downing Street spokesperson dismissed it, saying: “The UK Government does not support independence or another referendum.”
On Thursday, Reform UK’s Scottish leader Malcolm Offord pressed the First Minister on his next steps
Raising the issue at First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament, Lord Offord said: “During the election the First Minister said if a Section 30 notice was rejected he had a cunning plan to get a referendum.
“The debate was on Tuesday, it was rejected on Wednesday, this is Thursday.
“Is this now the time for the First Minister to reveal his cunning plan? Or has Peter Murrell stolen that as well?”
That remark was a reference to the former SNP chief executive who has admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the party over 12 years.
Mr Swinney ignored the comment as he said Lord Offord’s question “gets to the heart of our democratic politics”.
The SNP leader said: “I am not going to just kowtow to 10 Downing Street.
“The people of Scotland have decided that this Parliament has got an independence majority, and I am going to use that independence majority to deliver independence for our country.”
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You’d think Swinney’d have his mind on other things right now – he’s the one who appointed the thieving embezzler Murrell and failed to notice £400K going missing.
Scotlands right to Indeendence is inalienable regardless of one rotten apple
Westminster are going to play incredibly dirty throughout this. I expect the Great British propaganda machine to be slinging all kinds of dirt for the gullible to suck up in the next few weeks.
Whataboutism is going to be full on from the commentators, almost as if they’re just clutching at straws whilst flogging the dead horse of the British Empire.