2nd Scottish independence referendum ‘inevitable,’ says Salmond

A second referendum on Scottish independence is “inevitable,” former First Minister Alex Salmon has said amid fears the union is “hanging by a thread.”

The ex-Scottish National Party (SNP) leader said the government’s failure to live up to the ‘No’ campaign’s promises of further devolution for Scotland were a major factor behind the momentum for a second referendum.

Salmond also cited unease around the upcoming vote on Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU) and continued austerity by the Conservative government.

His comments come as a senior Conservative peer admitted the United Kingdom was “hanging by a thread” due to Tory plans for English votes for English laws (Evel) and increasing nationalism in England.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show on Sunday, Salmond said the timing of the next referendum was up to the current SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

I think a second independence referendum is inevitable. The question of course is not the inevitability, it is the timing.”

Salmond said there were three issues behind the drive for a second referendum.

One is the refusal to deliver the vow. The vow was about home rule, devo to the max, near-federalism, to quote Gordon Brown. That has not been delivered — as yet, at least — in the Scotland Bill, so that’s an issue,” he told the BBC.

The second issue is the one that’s been cast up quite a lot, and that’s the European issue. If you had a situation, a circumstance where Scotland voted to stay in the European Union in a referendum but was dragged out on the votes of the people of England, then that would be a material change in circumstance.

Via RT.