Edinburgh SNP MSP lodges motion in support of independence
While there was no mention of Scottish indpendence at the first meeting of Nicola Sturgeon's cabinet following last week's bruising election, the dream of self-determination lives on elsewhere for SNP members.
Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, has submitted a motion in the Scottish Parliament welcoming the recent decision by the devolved Catalan Government to hold an independence referendum on October 1.
The controversial announcement, which is fiercely opposed by the Spanish Government in Madrid, is the culmination of a long-running campaign for the region on the north-east extremity of the Iberian peninsula to become an independent state separate from Spain.
MacDonald’s motion called for MSPs to welcome the Catalan referendum announcement, adding that they should agree with the Catalan president’s claim “that all citizens should participate in the referendum about the future of the country as it is ‘an inalienable right’.”
To date, 16 MSPS have backed the motion.
SNP members have long enjoyed friendly relations with the wider Catalan independence movement - but senior Nationalists have sought to stay neutral on the issue.
MP and SNP Europe spokesman Stephen Gethins visited Spain in March with a message of reassurance for Madrid - the independence campaigns in Scotland and Catalonia were very different.
But the Spanish authorities have long viewed secessionist movements across Europe with hostility.
No one from Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative Popular Party met with Gethins during his trip.
Scottish Conservative MSP Jamie Greene said “some Nationalists just can’t help themselves”.
He added: “Even when the topic is banned for discussion at high-level SNP meetings, some nationalists just can’t help themselves.
“Gordon MacDonald’s obviously concluded if he’s not allowed to talk about a separate Scotland, he’ll bang on about Catalonia instead.
“It reinforces the impression that the SNP is a one-trick pony, and has literally nothing else to do with its time than talk about the constitution.”