Scottish party leaders clashed over the prospect of a second independence referendum on Tuesday night in the first televised debate of the Holyrood election campaign. The debate, dominated by Covid-19 and the constitutional question, saw SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon warn that decisions about recovery from the pandemic should not be left to Boris Johnson’s administration in Westminster.
Ms Sturgeon insisted that when the crisis has passed, the people of Scotland should have a “choice on independence”. Her party wants such a vote to take place in the first half of the next parliamentary term. But opponents argued that another referendum would be divisive and impede economic recovery. Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross stated: “We can't have a recovery and a referendum.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar highlighted the case of Mary Hudson, a 69-year-old cancer patient from Glasgow forced to travel to London for treatment because of Covid-19 backlogs in Scotland. He said the family had been told that the NHS in Scotland was only treating first occurrences of the disease due to the backlog. The debate also saw Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie call for the next five years to focus on recovery and unity, while Scottish Green Party co-leader Lorna Slater argued that Scotland could not return to the “broken system” before the pandemic and confirmed her party’s commitment to a referendum.
Mr Ross highlighted the success of the vaccine programme as a strength of the Union, noting that more than half of Scottish adults had received their first dose. The debate concluded with all five leaders pledging to work together to tackle abusive behaviour during the campaign. Mr Sarwar, the first political leader from an ethnic minority background in the UK, called for condemnation of perpetrators and solidarity with victims, regardless of political affiliation.
