Rachel Reeves: There won’t be another referendum

There won’t be another referendum on Scottish independence even if the SNP wins a majority at Holyrood next year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said.

Scotland’s finance secretary Shona Robison accused the chancellor of an “astonishing level of arrogance” and suggested such a position “can’t hold”.

The comments come after the SNP agreed a fresh strategy for independence at its conference last month.

John Swinney argued that if his party wins a majority in May, he will have a mandate call for a fresh vote on the constitution.

Speaking to the BBC the morning after her Budget, the chancellor was asked about the plan.

She said: “There won’t be another referendum. When there was a referendum just a few years ago, they said this was a once in a generation referendum. People gave their verdict then. We don’t need another one.”

Pressed on how long a generation was, the chancellor said it was “certainly not 12 years”.

In response, Robison told the BBC: “I don’t believe it will hold. It can’t hold.

“This is a Labour government that is one of the most unpopular that we’ve seen in history, and they’re telling the Scottish people that they can’t decide their own future. That, I think, will drive Labour opinions polls even further down.”

Swinney told his conference in October that the only way a referendum had been secured in the past was when the SNP swept to majority government in 2011.

Seeking to address concerns that the UK Government will continue to deny a section 30 order to allow a vote to take place, the first minister hinted at a secret strategy. He said: “Nobody knows the tactics I’m going to deploy if we get 65 seats in the Scottish Parliament.”

The chancellor was also asked about the failure to end the energy profits levy, despite calls from the oil and gas sector.

She defended the tax by saying prices were “still elevated” but pointed to the announcement of a successor regime, which will commence in 2030.

Robison described this as “one of the most disappointing parts of the budget” and called for the new regime to come in earlier.

And on the extra funding set to come to the Scottish Government, she said: “While we welcome any penny of extra funding, that £820m of resource and capital is over five years. That is an average real terms increase of about 0.5 per cent per annum.”