SNP Depute Leader Keith Brown has challenged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to apply the same logic being used to reconsider Brexit to Scotland’s right to decide its constitutional future.
Brown argues that if the United Kingdom can revisit its relationship with the European Union a decade after the Brexit vote, Scotland should also be able to reconsider independence 12 years after the 2014 referendum.
His intervention follows comments from Burnham that the United Kingdom can revisit Brexit after 10 years and “we could go all the way” and rejoin the European Union.
Lisa Nandy has also said the “question of Europe was not settled forever” and argued that 10 years on, major promises made about immigration, the economy and people’s lives had not been met.
Brown is now using those comments to challenge the UK Government’s position on Scotland, arguing that the principle of revisiting a major constitutional decision after circumstances have changed should apply equally to the independence question.
He said:
“Andy Burnham is right to revisit the Brexit vote 10 years on, just as he was right to recognise Scotland’s right to decide 12 years on.
“Those words must now become meaningful with an agreed process put in place.
“Never mind broken Brexit promises, Scots were told the biggest lie of all that our place in the UK would protect our place in Europe, not to mention the sustained attacks on our pensions.
“The Labour Party talk of the broken promises of Brexit, we can all agree on that, but they must also recognise the broken promises of Better Together and the changed circumstances of Scotland today.
“Poll after poll shows independence is the preferred position of the Scottish people, we have a record number of pro-independence MSPs in our Parliament and three quarters of this union is committed to constitutional change.
“The logic of Andy Burnham’s entirely reasonable decision to revisit Brexit must be extended to the future of Scotland, make no mistake, we take Andy Burnham’s reasonable words at face value.
“Through the fresh start with independence we can build a wealthier Scotland back home in the EU, Scotland wants to re-join and we wholeheartedly believe it is a good idea for the UK to do so too.”
The SNP’s argument is that the political and constitutional circumstances facing Scotland have changed substantially since 2014, with Brexit at the centre of its case for another independence vote.
Brown’s challenge now turns the UK Government’s own willingness to reconsider Britain’s relationship with Europe back towards the independence debate, asking why one constitutional decision can be revisited after a decade while another cannot.
