SNP ‘still grumpy’ over referendum result

LONDON: Jacob Rees-Mogg has blasted Scottish National Party MPs for continuing to be “grumpy” that they lost the independence referendum in 2014.

Calling for them to respect the result, the Commons Leader added that the ongoing “row” between the party’s current leader Nicola Sturgeon and former leader Alex Salmond is “a most disagreeable spectacle”.

It came as Edinburgh East SNP MP Tommy Sheppard warned that pressure for Scottish independence is mounting with another opinion poll reporting that a majority of people are in favour of splitting the union.

He told MPs: “In the week when the 19th Scottish opinion poll reports majority support for independence, I ask again for a debate on this Parliament’s response. Yesterday, George Osborne, a man whose interventions single-handedly boosted Yes support in the last referendum, demanded that the government ignore democratic decisions.

“He seems to believe that, as this union can’t be maintained by consent, it must be maintained by coercion. If this is becoming the government’s view, surely this parliament should discuss it?”

Rees-Mogg replied: “All, ultimately, (Sheppard) wants to do every week is moan about the devolution settlement. The referendum was won by the unionists in 2014, it was accepted that it would be for a generation — a generation is not a mere six-and-a-half years.

“The Scottish people made their choice and he is still grumpy that they didn’t make the choice that he wanted. This parliament respects the free choice that the Scottish people made more than he does.”

Rees-Mogg added that the SNP “is in such an awful muddle with its rows and disagreements, with Salmond and Sturgeon getting together like cats in a sack”. He continued: “It is a most disagreeable spectacle and that is why the union is something that we should all support and not leave it to the dangerous activities of the SNP.”