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Originally Posted by MTVN

I still think though that the issue of a second referendum is not cleared up. Sturgeon keeps saying that its for the Scottish people to decide when a next referendum is, well how do they decide? Do they have a referendum on a referendum? It seems more likely that if the SNP win a clean sweep in Scotland this year, and if they also greatly improve on their seats in the Holyrood elections, then that will be taken as a mandate to argue for another vote. I can't see how there can be a better way of the Scottish people 'deciding' they want a second referendum than the majority of them voting for the Nats in consecutive elections. I'm not saying this to belittle the SNP because I actually think it would be fair for them to argue for another referendum given how Scottish politics seems to have developed in the last twelve months, I'm just genuinely curious about what Sturgeon means when she says that a referendum will be whenever the people decide in favour of one.

I'm convinced that Salmond stood down because he gave a personal undertaking that there would be no further calls for independence in a generation. Sturgeon has no need to hold to that commitment. I think Sturgeon will pick her timing well. If the SNP end up with more than 50% of the available Scottish seats, I take that as an automatic mandate to hold a referendum, it then falls to when she thinks it has the greatest likelihood of success. Call me cynical, but I think her agenda is best served by a conservative government, so while she will be making noises about get the tories out and we want to work with labour, if her ultimate aim is independence, then she will be doing all in her power to get the tories in.