A ‘De Facto Referendum’?

English prime ministers, as a general rule, are bad at handling Scottish nationalism. On his recent visit to Scotland, a video of prime minister Rishi Sunak went viral after he failed to engage with STV interviewer Colin Mackay, who had asked if he would “accept the outcome of a de facto referendum.” McKay was referring to the Scottish National Party’s claim that votes for them represent votes in favor of independence. (Thus, their maintaining their majority after the next general election would mean that there is a popular mandate for another independence vote.)

An honest answer to the question would have been to reject the premise: To insist that the general election is not a “de facto” referendum. Rather, it is a symptom of the structural weakness of Scotland’s parliamentary system that ensures that all the true competition is in London, not Edinburgh.