Indyref2 vote will not happen while NHS is under ‘pressure’

NICOLA Sturgeon signalled there will not be a second independence referendum until the “acute pressure” on Scotland’s NHS has eased.

The SNP leader said the timing was not about safety in polling stations, but about enabling the nation to have the “space and the time” to properly focus on the issue.

She was asked about the timetable for a second referendum as her party prepares to hold its conference online over the next four days.

In her programme for government this week, the first minister confirmed work would restart on preparing for such a vote with the aim of delivering it by the end of 2023.

In a broadcast interview before the conference opened, Ms Sturgeon was asked about a caveat that meant the timetable was “Covid-19 permitting”.

She said it meant that the country could not still be “in the teeth of a Covid crisis”.

Ms Sturgeon said: “It’s not just about the safety of polling stations, it’s about having a country that is able to focus on a very big decision, and have the space and the time to do that.

“So what do I mean by that? I mean coming out of a position where we’ve got rising cases, where we’re still having to tell people to take care over their own behaviour, where we’re encouraging people not to come together in unnecessary ways and on unnecessary occasions, where we don’t have the significant pressure, acute pressure, on the health service that we have right now.”

Ms Sturgeon had earlier stopped short of saying she viewed the current pressures on the NHS as a “crisis”, but said it was under “more pressure than it has been under probably in any of our lifetimes”.

“It’s not just about the safety of polling stations, it’s about having a country that is able to focus on a very big decision, and have the space and the time to do that.”

The SNP’s virtual conference began with a rallying speech from the party’s depute leader, Keith Brown, who claimed Scotland needs independence “more than ever before”.