Yousaf admits ‘no shortcut’ to independence as he hits out at Labour’s ‘disrespect’

Humza Yousaf has hit out at Labour rejecting his appeal for Keir Starmer to allow an independence referendum if he becomes the next prime minister.

First Minister Humza Yousaf (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Humza Yousaf has accused Labour of “a complete disrespect of the Scottish public” as he insisted there is “no shortcut” to gain independence.

The First Minister was speaking after he confirmed earlier this week that he will ask Keir Starmer for a Section 30 to allow an independence referendum to take place, if the Labour leader wins this year’s general election. In response, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has rejected the appeal, stressing that Labour will not grant a referendum on independence.

The First Minister hit out at Mr Sarwar’s opposition to a re-run of the 2014 referendum taking place, without a single vote of the general election being cast. The SNP believes that winning a majority of Scottish seats at the election would be a mandate to begin the process of Scotland leaving the union.

Pointing to Mr Sarwar’s rejection of Labour granting a Section 30, Mr Yousaf said: “It’s incredible.”

He added: “Anas Sarwar said they’ll say no regardless of what the result of the general election is. To me, that is a complete disrespect of the Scottish public before a vote’s even been cast.

“If the SNP stands, as we will, on a clear manifesto to win a majority of seats in that general election and that pursue a mandate for giving independence a democratic effect, then for Anas Sarwar to say it doesn’t matter how many votes the SNP chalks up, we’re just not going to respect the choice of the Scottish people, to me just sums up the disrespect we have.”

Pressed on the route to independence by The Scotsman, the First Minister acknowledged “there is no shortcut to independence”.

He added: “We have Westminster that is blocking the democratic mandate that we have and the democratic voice of the Scottish people.

“We have to continue to build popular support. If you have that consistent popular support, as we did for the creation of the Scottish Parliament, then independence, in my view, will be absolutely inevitable.”

The First Minister was speaking as he reflected on his first year in office, which began with the arrests of Nicola Sturgeon, her husband and former party chief Peter Murrell and ex-SNP treasurer Colin Beattie over the SNP’s finances. All three were released without change.

Mr Yousaf said: “I couldn’t have envisaged what would have unfolded in my first couple of weeks or even, few months in office.”

But he insisted that “ the party is on a much more steady footing which I’m pleased about”.

The FM added: “Of course, the year has had its challenges but also massive opportunities. I’m really proud of the progress we’ve made.

“There’s a lot we can look at in terms of progress, but there’s a long way still to go and still much work for us still to do. ’ve been really proud of what we’ve achieved over the course of the last year. It’s a nice milestone to achieve but I don’t put too much stock in milestones.

“We have a general election at some point, nobody knows when this year. I’m very focused on making sure that we win that general election.”