Ten years after Scotland voted against independence, first minister urges supporters to look to the future
John Swinney has urged independence supporters not to live in the past as he celebrated the 10th anniversary of the independence referendum as a moment of “reawakening” for the yes movement.voted 55% to 45% to remain part of the UK, the SNP leader said: “We have had a long, dark decade – a decade of austerity, of Brexit, of a cost of living crisis and a global pandemic.”
The former first minister Nicola Sturgeon predicted on Wednesday that Scotland would become an independent country as part of a “wider shake-up” of the UK, as senior figures acrossWith support for independence stabilised at just below 50%, the former SNP leader told BBC Scotland News: “I believe that, perhaps as part of a wider shake-up of UK governance, the reunification of Ireland, perhaps, more autonomy in Wales, that I think we will see Scotland become an independent country.
“I came up against a brick wall of Westminster democracy-denial in refusing the right of the Scottish people to choose their own future,” she said. “Do I wish I had found a way around that? Yes, but that was the situation I faced. Had that right to choose been secured, I believe Scotland would have voted yes.”
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, Alexander said: “To be fair to the 45% , a number of them genuinely and sincerely believed a vote for independence was a way to secure change, and what we actually saw on 4 July was an overwhelming desire for change being channelled into vote for the Labour party not the SNP.”
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