Constitutional debate has become ‘crisis of democracy’, warns Flynn

The constitutional debate has become a “full blown crisis of democracy”, the SNP’s Westminster leader will argue.

Stephen Flynn will speak at the Institute for Government’s conference on Tuesday, urging opponents to avoid a “just say No to democracy strategy”.

The SNP will hold a special conference in March where party members will choose the exact offering to Scottish voters at the next election.

Nicola Sturgeon has said she wants to fight the next general election as a de facto referendum on independence, while an alternative option would be to use the next Scottish Parliament election in 2026 for this purpose.

Mr Flynn, who became the party’s Westminster group leader in December, will give a keynote speech at the institute’s conference in London.

He will say: “In a functioning democracy, the UK Government would have accepted that democratic vote by the people of Scotland and agreed to a referendum.

“Instead, Westminster has turned the UK constitutional debate into a full blown crisis of democracy.”

The Aberdeen South MP will continue: “Having campaigned for No in 2014, it appears the word No is literally all the Westminster parties have left.

“But a ‘just say No to democracy’ strategy is doomed to fail. Not only is it driving up support for independence, but it’s fatally undermining any remaining case for Westminster control.

“No-one is asking Westminster to say Yes to independence, but moderate unionists know they need to release themselves from the dead end of denying democracy – or they will do more to make the case for independence than any Scottish Government could ever do.”

Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Donald Cameron said: “The SNP have shunned democracy ever since Scots voted to keep the UK together in 2014.

“Stephen Flynn’s comments are an insult to the millions of Scots who chose to remain as part of the UK – in what nationalists claimed would be a once-in-a-generation vote.

“Yet Stephen Flynn and his colleagues insist on ignoring this and then playing the grievance card.

“Amid the current global cost-of-living crisis and with Scotland’s NHS on its knees, the SNP’s obsession with pushing for independence is the wrong priority at the worst possible time.”