Five times the SNP delayed indyref2

It’s groundhog day up in Scotland as once more the SNP have found a reason to suggest why their desperately-needed, long-overdue second independence referendum… might have to be delayed again. For, despite a pliant press, a captive state and 15 years in power, the tartan nationalists are still unable to breach the magic figure of 50 per cent support for independence. 

Having demanded a second referendum barely after the dust had settled on the first one, the SNP don’t seem so keen on holding it, given the lack of any sizeable shift in their favour. In light of Ian Blackford’s latest intervention, below are just five reasons given by the SNP since 2014 on why they have not yet held their long-awaited second referendum.

Brexit

The verdict of the EU referendum on 23 June 2016 seemed, at first, a godsend to Nicola Sturgeon whose government began planning for another plebiscite the day the results were announced. But three-and-a-half years later, when the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020, no referendum had been held or even scheduled.