Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr K
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This has always been a possibility. They’ve shied away from the advisory referendum idea in the past because there’s a very effective strategy for countering it, which is for the other Holyrood parties to refuse to engage with the campaign and to advise the public not to vote at all.
You then end up with a large yes vote on a small turnout, in which every non-voter can be claimed as a no voter. The referendum is delegitimised as a piece of political theatre - nationalists talking to themselves in an echo chamber.
Sturgeon has however now got little choice but to go down this route because the real heidbangers in her party are getting impatient. She is about to have gone a full parliamentary term as a nationalist first minister without delivering a referendum, let alone Scotland’s departure from the union. Going another term that way isn’t an option. She clearly wants to hold on to her job.
As a member of the electorate in Scotland I’m certainly not minded to legitimise the SNPs schemes by participating in them.