The dawning of her political death; Nicola Sturgeon has made a very big mistake, over indyref 2 and it's just beginning to dawn on her, there is no possible chance that she can keep political momentum going for the next four years, people of Scotland are sick to death of the SNP talking non stop about independence, they want a government in power who are willing to do the ‘day job’, is this the start of the end of the SNP as a political party?

Dear All

Nicola Sturgeon has made a very big mistake and it's just beginning to dawn on her.

You might be tempted to say, is there any proof?

Well, a crack in the façade was clearly on show when Colin MacKay dropped the news to her that Theresa May had turned down her request for a new Scottish independence referendum, at that point you could see her brain going into overdrive.

Then fuse!

After getting the bad news of no Section 30 order, she also got told that Westminster wouldn’t entry into talks. You could clearly see her head go down as she dived into the lift at Holyrood to escape, but there is no escape from the very big mistake she has made, no rewinding of history or time.

In an attempt to appear relevant; Nicola Sturgeon has made clear she remains determined to hold indyref2, its just talk, but not for the people of Scotland but for her supporters. Having overplayed her hand and facing the disastrous consequences of that miscalculation, she has left herself wide open to questions about her suitability to continue on as SNP leader.

When the Prime Minister delivered her “now is not the time” message, whether Sturgeon liked it or not, it was entirely wrong and foolhardy to think that in the middle of the most serious talks over Brexit that anyone would have time for her. No one has time for her during Brexit, not even the Europeans; they will be seeking an accommodation because the ‘men in the grey suits’ aren’t going to sit idly by and see hundreds of millions of investment being put in danger. Money as they say makes the world go round, and into today’s interlinked global market no one gets to be a ‘problem’.

Nicola Sturgeon just made herself a ‘problem’ which is why she was so quickly and effectively shutdown by the real people in power.

Sturgeon doesn’t as she claims have an "unequivocal mandate" to hold a second referendum, she doesn’t have power, she doesn’t have legal authority and she doesn’t have moral authority. There will be no declaration of UDI as the real nutters of the Nationalist camp periodically cry.

Sturgeon said to the BBC:

"You are asking me to accept that a Conservative Prime Minister, who has one MP in Scotland has the right to lay down the law to Scotland's democratically elected parliament. That is unacceptable."

She thinks that Holyrood or to be more specific the SNP have the right to override Westminster because they control Holyrood, they don’t have any right and more importantly they know it. Interestingly Carole Malone, the TV pundit was quick to call Nicola deluded.

Malone said:

“I think she talks about this referendum all the time to hide the fact that she’s making a mess of running Scotland. It has a massive deficit, it has a £15bn deficit which is proportionately twice as much as the UK’s deficit. Education is in a mess, health is in a mess.”

The heat was further thrust on the Nationalists as John Humphrys tore into the Deputy First Minister John Swinney as he tried to dodge a simple question on independence four times. Swinney stalled as the veteran broadcaster repeatedly asked if the SNP would be prepared to hold an advisory referendum. If the SNP do attempt this, this could see the Scottish Government and Parliament shut down and power returned to the Scottish Office.

Shutdown Holyrood if there is an advisory referendum stands a very good chance of happening, once power is out of the SNP’s hands, they lose all control and effectively becoming powerless. Westminster will reluctantly be forced to use their powers which could mean down the line that the current Holyrood setup is radically changed to prevent this happening again.

The wheels are falling off the SNP bandwagon, they can no longer claim to be acting on the ‘will of the people’ so now they are claiming that they will be acting on the ‘will of parliament’ clearly the SNP cannot be trusted and as much as the SNP try to muddy the water on timescales.

Finally; John Humphrys mocked the SNP new attempts for a fresh independence as he flippantly said:

“Maybe we should redefine generation to being a rabbit generation, how long do they live, three or four years?”

The subtext for his listeners was that the SNP are dishonourable and liars, they aren’t honouring the Edinburgh Agreement and as such cannot be trusted.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University