Nicola Sturgeon is caught in an independence referendum fix

Nicola Sturgeon is in a bit of a fix. After saying that the Scottish independence referendum was a once-in-a-generation event she is calling for a second one just two years after the first. But polls show Scots have no appetite for this vote. Unlike the SNP activist base, which is itching for another fight – and there have even been signs of a Momentum-style infiltration of the SNP, raising the prospect of a split in a party whose strength has (hitherto) been in its discipline. So what’s the First Minister to do?

Her answer, in the SNP conference, is to assuage the activists and publish a new referendum bill. Her peg is the Brexit vote, and her shtick is simple. She airbrushes out the two-in-five Scots who voted for Brexit, and pretends that the whole of Scotland is appalled by what’s happening. Like a Catholic seeking an ‘annulment’ of a marriage, she’s saying the 2014 referendum result has been voided because it was based on a false premise.