Lord Finkelstein shut down the First Minister’s plot for a second referendum during an interview on BBC’s Politics Live. He claimed the SNP cannot keep asking the people of Scotland the same question until they get their desired answer.
Lord Finkelstein said: “There are lots of people that are engaged with the question of whether the United Kingdom continues.
“Obviously, the people of Scotland are one of the largest groups in that decision, but they are not the only group.
“It is right that the UK Parliament has the power over the decision regarding whether we have a referendum.
“My view is that we have recently had a referendum, one of the reasons why I opposed a second referendum on Brexit was because of the precedent it would set.
“You can’t keep asking people the question and decide you are going to do it again until you get the right answer.
“What the SNP want to do is keep on having referendums until one of them comes up trumps.
“My view is that referendums are once in a generation things.”
He added: “If they do have that referendum that’s something that everybody who was born in Scotland and has eligibility to be in the Scottish state, should have a right to have a say.”
“It is an act of self-sabotage that we simply do not understand but must nevertheless respond to.”
She added: “Brexit and the way in which Brexit is being implemented immeasurably strengthens the case for Scotland becoming an independent country with the ability to shape our own destiny.
“If this was a programme for Government in an independent Scotland, we wouldn’t have to contemplate the damage of Brexit at all.
“That is why before the end of this parliament we will publish a draft bill setting out the proposed terms and timing of an independence referendum as well as the proposed question that people will be asked in that referendum.
“Then at next year’s election we will make the case for Scotland to become an independent country, we will seek a clear endorsement for Scotland’s right to choose its own future.”
