UK Edition
Nicola Sturgeon 'risking Scots Leave vote by sniping from sidelines'
Nicola Sturgeon is not pulling her weight in the battle to keep Britain in the EU thanks to a “sloppy assumption” that Scots are more pro-European than the English and is risking growing support for Brexit, she will be warned today.
Willie Rennie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, is expected to criticise Ms Sturgeon’s refusal to share a platform with other pro-EU politicians and predict that anti-European sentiment will grow unless the SNP starts taking the campaign “seriously”.
In a speech to party members in Fife, he will claim that the SNP’s main contributions to the debate so far have been threatening a second independence referendum if Scotland is taken out of the EU against its will and criticising the official Remain campaign from the side-lines.
He will argue that they should drop their “self-interested commentary”, along with their assumption that an overwhelming Scottish Remain vote is guaranteed on June 23, and make the positive case for the EU alongside other pro-Europeans.
Mr Rennie will warn that the SNP’s behaviour could help contribute to a Leave vote after Jim Sillars, the Nationalists’ former deputy leader, reiterated his argument that his party should campaign for Brexit.
Opinion polls have indicated that Scots are slightly more pro-European than the English, but that almost a third of SNP supporters want to leave the EU.
Speaking in Orkney, Mr Sillars said there was a “glaring contradiction” between the SNP wanting to leave a political union of 60 million people, the United Kingdom, but campaigning to remain part of another union of 500 million people.
Their interventions came following outspoken criticism by Ms Sturgeon and her predecessor, Alex Salmond, of the negative tone of the campaign to keep Britain in the EU.
Mr Salmond has accused Downing Street of relying on ‘Project Fear’ stories and urged the Prime Minister to “reboot” the campaign. They have also warned that a second independence referendum is likely if there is a Brexit vote but a majority of Scots want to remain in the EU.
Mr Rennie will state that his party is “working hard to win a big vote for Remain” using positive arguments about the EU’s benefits and in partnership with others in the official Stronger In campaign.
"Meanwhile the SNP has refused to join any other campaign yet have daily opinions about how the official In campaign is operating,” the Scottish Lib Dem leader is expected to say.
"And when the SNP are not criticising the official campaign they are postulating about the consequences of a Brexit for Scottish independence. The SNP should ditch the criticism and the self-interested commentary. Instead they should work with other pro Europeans to win the case for remain.”
He will argue that the SNP appear to take for granted that Scots will vote “radically different” from the English and “a big Scottish Remain vote is guaranteed.”
But he will warn: “That sloppy assumption misunderstands the complex range of views that exists in Scotland about Europe. If the SNP continue to behave as they are they could risk a growth in the leave vote."
Speaking on behalf of the Scot.Leave campaign, Mr Sillars yesterday accused the current SNP leadership of living in "a parallel universe" by campaigning to leave the UK and remain in the EU.
He was one of the architects of the SNP’s “independence in Europe” policy created in the 1980s, but he said there were then only 12 member states and the national veto protecting small countries was still intact.
However, Mr Sillars said there are now 28 members and the veto has “virtually disappeared”, meaning that the views of small countries are “easily crushed, their views set aside.”
He said Germany and France have inflicted “brutal austerity” on countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal against the will of their citizens.
An SNP spokesman said: "Being part of Europe is good for Scotland, in terms of jobs, prosperity and security.
"An independent Scotland would have a seat and a voice at the EU's top table - something we are currently denied."