How do the SNP sell a second referendum?

Analysis

BBC

News, Politics

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2017

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Could a second referendum on Scottish independence yield a different result? In September 2014 when Scotland voted against becoming an independent country it seemed like the question had been settled for the foreseeable future. All that changed on June 23rd 2016 when the UK voted to leave the EU. Just a few hours later - before she'd even been to bed - Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was already talking about the prospect of another vote on independence. Ever since she has been ramping up the rhetoric. But what would the SNP's strategy be second time around?

BBC Scotland Editor Sarah Smith explores whether the SNP would dare call another vote when there seems little appetite and opinion polls have failed to move as much as Nicola Sturgeon might have expected following the Brexit vote. Sarah talks to strategists and politicians for an insight into how things might be different should a second referendum take place in the near future. She asks whether an independent Scotland would be accepted into the EU and what the future might hold for the first minister should she fail to achieve what she sees as her duty - offering Scotland another chance to gain independence.

Presenter: Sarah Smith Producer: Ben Carter.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.6	My name's Linda Davies and I commission podcast for BBC Sounds.
0:08.4	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable
0:14.3	experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC
0:20.4	makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.
0:36.0	This is the BBC.
0:40.0	Thanks for downloading analysis. I'm the editor Hugh Levinson. A little while ago I heard a presentation
0:45.2	by the BBC Scotland editor Sarah Smith and I thought it was so brilliant that we should make a program
0:50.0	about it and I'm delighted to say we have.
0:53.0	Sarah looks at the prospects for a second referendum on Scottish independence
0:57.0	and how Brexit might affect that.
0:59.0	Over to Sarah with an assist from Felix Mendelssohn.
1:03.0	This is a tale of two referendums and the possibility we could soon be preparing for a third.
1:19.0	The first referendum in September 2014 confirmed that Scotland would remain a part of the UK.
1:26.4	The second, less than two years later, decided the UK would leave the EU.
1:31.9	The question now is whether that Brexit vote will provoke another
1:35.2	referendum on Scottish independence. In other words, might Brexit break up
1:41.4	Britain? Brexit, break up Britain.
1:49.0	Let's start by looking back at the first of those votes. And that is it.
1:51.0	Scotland has voted no in this referendum on independence.
	...

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