Keir Starmer rules out new Scots independence vote – and says FM Swinney hasn’t even asked for one – as poll warns PM Nigel Farage is threat to union
Keir Starmer effectively ruled out a new Scottish independence vote while he is Prime Minister today – suggesting it wasn’t even a priority for the SNP government at Holyrood.
The Labour leader said he could not imagine a vote happening during his time in power, even if the nationalists win a majority in the 2026 Holyrood election.
And he said that First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney had not raised the issue with him during their recent talks.
It came after a weekend poll suggested support for a breakaway has risen amid a surge for Reform north of the border.
A Norstat poll found 54 per cent backed the separatist cause, the joint highest ever detected by the firm.
The eight-point lead – excluding don’t knows – swelled to 16 points if people were asked to imagine Nigel Farage was PM.
The Prime Minister was asked by the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, if he could imagine another independence referendum during his time as Prime Minister.
Sir Keir said: ‘No, and nobody’s raising that with me as their first priority.
The Prime Minister said he could not imagine a vote happening during his time in power, even if the nationalists win a majority in the 2026 Holyrood election.
The PM said that First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney had not raised the issue of independence with him during their recent talks.
‘Certainly, in the discussions I’m having with the First Minister, that is not – we’re talking about jobs, energy, security and dealing with the cost-of-living crisis.’
Scots voted in an independence referendum in 2014, with the ‘No’ side securing 55 per cent of the vote.
Since then, successive UK governments have rejected the SNP’s pleas for a second referendum.
Last month Mr Swinney said a ‘democratic majority’ of pro-independence MSPs following the next Scottish Parliament election should result in another referendum.
The Prime Minister said that whatever the outcome in May, an independence referendum is ‘not a priority’.
The most recent figure of support rose from 50 per cent in the last Norstat poll in January.
The highest that support for independence has reached in recent years is 58 per cent, in an Ipsos Scotland poll for STV News in the early months of the pandemic, as Nicola Sturgeon received plaudits for her handling of Covid-19.
The figures come ahead of a by-election in Lanarkshire this week, after the death of Scottish Government minister Christina McKelvie.
Mr Farage pictured boarding a private jet at Glasgow Airport to return to England after a campaign visit yesterday
According to polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice, in projections for the Sunday Times, John Swinney was on track to win an unprecedented fifth term in office for his party next year, securing 54 seats.
Labour would drop to 20 seats, while Reform would win 18 in their first full political test in Scotland.
Meanwhile, the Tories would drop from being the second biggest party to the fourth, with just 17 MSPs, followed by the Lib Dems on 11 and the Greens on nine.
Speaking to Good Morning Scotland, Sir Keir also discussed the defence sector in Scotland.
He said there are around 25,000 defence jobs in Scotland and the strategic defence review announcements would ‘build on that’.
The Prime Minister said: ‘I would like to see many, many jobs in Scotland.
‘Scotland has an incredible heritage and skilled work people in Scotland.
‘We’ve just been looking at some of the frigates which have been built and are being built in Scotland.’
He insisted the SNP is ‘wrong’ in its opposition to nuclear weapons and said ‘we’re entering a new era on defence and security’.
