Scottish election 2021: Party leaders clash over need for indyref2

The five leaders of Scotland's larger parties took part in the first TV election debate of the campaign

Scotland's political leaders have clashed over whether a second independence referendum is needed as the country recovers from the pandemic.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said the country was in danger of going in the "wrong direction" if it left decisions on the recovery to Boris Johnson.

But her pro-UK opponents said the last thing the country needed was the "divisiveness" of a referendum.

They were taking part in a BBC Scotland debate ahead of the election on 6 May.

The televised debate saw Ms Sturgeon, the country's first minister, go head-to-head with Conservative leader Douglas Ross, Labour's Anas Sarwar, Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie and Lorna Slater, the co-leader of the pro-independence Scottish Greens.

Ms Sturgeon said she would want a second vote on Scottish independence to take place in the first half of the next five-year Holyrood term "assuming the crisis has passed".

But she dismissed suggestions that the pursuit of independence was a distraction from the Covid crisis, saying she had spent the day in talks with her clinical advisers rather than on the campaign trail.

She said: "I'll leave other people to judge if my focus has been on the pandemic or not over the past year. People have seen me literally every single day lead the country's fight against Covid and I have literally spent almost every waking moment doing that.

"I will continue to do that for every single day that is required out of that crisis, because it is not over yet."

But she added: "Recovery is not a neutral thing.

"So long as so many of the decisions lies in the hands of Boris Johnson and Westminster, then the danger is we take the wrong decisions and go in the wrong direction just as we've been dragged out of the EU against our will."

This debate was a reminder of the major fault line in Scottish politics - independence or continued union.

More than six years after the referendum, Nicola Sturgeon confirmed she is aiming to hold another vote in the first half of the next term at Holyrood.

She qualified that by saying this timescale depends on the Covid crisis being past but it's not clear how that will be determined.

The Greens also support indyref2 but avoided being tied down on timing.

The three other parties - Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats made their opposition to a referendum clear.

But the Tory leader Douglas Ross was determined to outdo the others, going as far as saying he did not want to work with the SNP because of independence.

That prompted Labour's Anas Sarwar to urge him to "grow up".

This election is not just a choice of first minister - there's also a lively debate between those for whom a strong second place finish would be a good result.

But Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said the coronavirus vaccination programme showed the strength of the United Kingdom when it worked together.

He said more than half of all Scottish adults have now had their first does of vaccine, and added: "The United Kingdom getting the vaccines that are delivered by our NHS staff, our British armed forces and volunteers. That's the union working for people right now."

Mr Ross asked: "Why do we have bills in the Scottish Parliament to take forward another independence referendum, but not bills in the Scottish Parliament to support education, to help businesses, to protect jobs?

"None of that is happening because the Scottish government and the SNP are focused on another independence referendum."

SCOTLAND'S ELECTION: THE BASICS

What elections are happening? On 6 May, voters in Scotland will elect 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). The party that wins the most seats will form the Scottish government. Find out more here.

What powers does the Scottish Parliament have? MSPs pass laws on most aspects of daily life in Scotland, such as health, education and transport. They also have control over some taxes and benefits. Defence, foreign and immigration policies are decided by the UK Parliament.

How do I vote? Anyone who lives in Scotland and is registered to vote is eligible, so long as they are aged 16 or over on the day of the election. You can register to vote online.

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar highlighted the case of a tertiary cancer patient who had been told she would not be treated in Scotland.

Mr Sarwar said this was because the backlog due to Covid meant operations were only being done on first cancers, and not recurring cancers, so the woman had to travel to England for treatment.

He said: "That is what should be getting us exercised in this debate today. That is what we should be obsessing about, and that is what the recovery plan needs to be about.

"These are the things that matter to people across the country. They don't care about the badges or the name calling. They care about having services that work for them - what Scotland can do, not what Scotland can't do".

But Ms Sturgeon's position was backed by Ms Slater, who said the Scottish Green manifesto would commit to a referendum taking place in the next Holyrood term.

Ms Slater said: "Around the room we hear people who are in favour of the Union not actually arguing for the Union, but instead arguing that the people of Scotland shouldn't have the right to choose.

"The Scottish Greens would support a referendum in this term of parliament because we think decisions about Scotland should be made by the Scottish people."

Ms Slater said the pandemic had shown that Scotland's economy was propped up by low wages, insecure work and a social security system that is full of holes.

The debate saw the politicians face questions from a virtual audience

And she said science showed that the planet had less than a decade before the climate breakdown would go past the point of no return - and argued that we "can't go back to this broken system" after the pandemic.

Mr Rennie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, said more than 1,500 young people were having to wait more than a year for mental health support.

And he said the pandemic had also highlighted the need to improve the country's care sector, and the lack of support for schoolchildren who had lost out on education.

He said: "I've seen a window into the next five years in the last few weeks - arguments over the constitution, strategy about independence, arguments between Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond which have been poisonous and unpleasant.

"What we need to do is to put all of that behind us and choose a different future.

"And if we can do that we can tackle mental health, we can tackle education, but we can also make sure our social care workers get the pay they deserve."

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