Scots will not vote in an independence referendum before next Mayâs Holyrood elections because the minority Scottish National party government in Edinburgh cannot pass the necessary bill.
Nicola Sturgeon, deputy first minister, said on Monday the SNP would instead campaign on the issue at the Holyrood elections and âlet the people decide.â
Opposition parties accused the Scottish government of ârunning scaredâ. The bill for a referendum is due to be published but will not be put to an immediate vote.
Although not unexpected, this is another embarrassing retreat for the SNP, which has just one seat more than Labour at Holyrood. The Nationalists have also failed to gain support for other âflagshipâ policies, such as replacing council tax with a local income tax and setting a minimum price for alcohol.
The two latest opinion polls put Scottish Labour 10 percentage points ahead of the SNP, suggesting the Nationalists could lose control at Holyrood next May after one term in office as a minority administration.
The SNP had pledged to hold a referendum before entering the 2007 Holyrood election, when the Nationalists narrowly ousted the ruling Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition, with their preferred date for the vote being November 30 this year â St Andrewâs Day.
But Ms Sturgeon said the opposition parties had made it very clear that they wanted to block the referendum bill.
âWe think more powers for the Scottish Parliament â in particular more economic powers â are vital in this economic climate,â she said. âThe decision for us is whether we let that bill fall foul of opposition game-playing or whether we take it to the people of Scotland at the next election and let them be the ones to decide.â
Iain Gray, Scottish Labourâs leader, called the SNP move âan embarrassing and humiliating climbdown.â
He said: âThey should give up on this idea because they have failed to convince either the parliament, or indeed the people of Scotland, that this is the right time for this referendum. This has always been about the interests of the SNP, it has never been about the interests of Scotland.â
The Liberal Democrats said fighting the election on the grounds of independence would be âwelcome territoryâ.
Annabel Goldie, the Scottish Conservative leader, accused Alex Salmond, the SNP first minister, of having squandered millions of pounds of taxpayersâ money chasing a minority aspiration.
âNow he is running scared,â she said.
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