Bit awkward these pesky IFS people

Sometimes you really have to wonder about the First Minister of Scotland.  In one breath she says  Sir John Major's warning about the threat the SNP could pose to the UK is an "affront to democracy".  The next minute the SNP leader refused to rule out staging a second independence vote after the 2016 Holyrood elections, surely an affront to democracy given its only 8 months since the people of Scotland, in a once in a generation vote as Nicola helpfully told us, decided very clearly that they want to stay part of the UK, warts and all.

All there would need to be is a "change of circumstances" (as she sees it) to justify another referendum, such as the Tories' proposed referendum on EU membership.

On one hand the former Prime Minister is simply plying political cut and thrust.  That’s the rough and tumble of an election.  On the other hand Nicola Sturgeon is saying that the democratic will of the people of Scotland expressed last year actually means nothing.  In the vote 8 months ago, very clearly, the people of Scotland said they wanted to stay within the UK.  What bit of “we want to stay part of the UK” does the First Minister not get? 

So the people of Scotland, having decided the UK was the place for them, will now be ignored by the SNP.  This idea the SNP are putting forward that there will have been a change of circumstance is too ridiculous for words.  The people voted to be part of the UK.  It had been made perfectly clear long before the in-out referendum on Scotland staying in the UK that the Conservatives would offer an in out referendum on the UK staying in Europe. So there really are no changed circumstances at all.  The people knew that could be a consequence and still voted to stay in the UK.

Perhaps referenda are just there for the things Nicola wants to vote on and not the things the whole of the UK which we elected to stay part of want.

Or were her words today less than subtly trying to wrestle the agenda back from the rather unfortunate report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that the SNP plans to move to full fiscal autonomy for Scotland over a number of years would not address the "fiscal gap", with projections suggesting it would increase rather than shrink over the next few years.  Bit awkward that when trying to show you are fiscally literate.

So tonight’s doorstep question.  “If you believe in referenda and respecting the will of the people, why not one on Europe?”.  After all it is certainly a couple of generations since we last had a chance to vote on Europe.