"When Will You Allow Another IndyRef?"
- Alistair McConnachie
- 5 hours ago
- 4 min read
We deconstruct this question, in order to find a satisfactory answer which pays due respect to the value and permanence of our United Kingdom. Pic: An AFFG activist at our "Enough is Enough" rally outside Holyrood on Saturday 6th September 2025.
This is a favourite question from the Scottish media. A politician – especially if he or she comes up from England, will be asked this question when they "come up from England".
Of course, politicians from Scotland are always asked this question too – although the media particularly loves putting the English ones on the spot for it.
The subliminal idea is that politicians "in England" are somehow holding the whip-hand over the poor Scots who are being denied their democratic right to "have another referendum".
There's various answers to this question, many of which simply kick the question down the road. For example:
"Now is not the time."
"Maybe in 10 years."
"It was once in a generation, and so that's not for a few years yet" (although that day will surely come)!
"People voted once and they voted to stay, and so it's settled now."
These are diplomatic ways of answering (or avoiding) the question, and perhaps in some cases they can be acceptable responses.
However, they are unsatisfactory. This is because the essence of the question has not been challenged. Rather the essence of the question has just been meekly accepted. The hostile interviewer retains the frame.
Before we get to a better answer, let's look at the nature of any "union".
WHAT THE UNION IS FOR
The purpose of any Union, whether trade union, or co-operative union, or marriage union, or political union is to join together so that we may pool our talents and resources, in order to enjoy the mutual benefits that such association brings.
The Union benefits everyone involved, by enabling us to collectively share the risks and responsibilities in order that we may also share the support networks and the rewards. It is an arrangement for collective long-term responsibility for shared needs. The Union is a form of mutualism and expresses solidarity.
Any answer to any question regarding the value and viability of the UK needs to keep the above positive facts in mind. This is what the Union "is all about"!
THE SEPARATIST FRAME
When the media ask "when will you allow another IndyRef" they are trying to:
a- position the politician as being somehow against "Scottish democracy";
b- keep the idea of a second referendum in the public mind;
c- promote the break-up of the UK. After all, nobody who wants the UK to stay together is going to promote a referendum which potentially risks breaking it up.
However, there is a deeper frame going on:
1- The deeper frame is that the UK is intrinsically sick and the only way to make it well again is "independence". The question seeks to implant the notion that things are bad for Scotland within the Union, and they are always going to be bad for Scotland within the Union; and all we are doing here in Scotland is just sitting around waiting for the opportunity to "break free".
They are really asking, "When are you going to give us a chance to escape?" By constantly asking that question they condemn the present constitutional arrangement; and make us focus on the future for our relief.
2- It intentionally misrepresents the nature of the UK Union. It gives the deliberate impression that we are subordinate to others – in this case England – rather than in a mutually beneficial and co-operative union with the rest of our British family, right now.
3- Furthermore, there is a presumption that the very existence of our country – the United Kingdom – should be constantly called into question. There is an inherent disrespect involved there.
4- It presumes that we must somehow just meekly accept that our country should be constantly destabilised with this line of questioning; and even potentially destroyed with yet another referendum on the matter!
As we say, their frame positions the United Kingdom as fundamentally a sickly organism which can only heal by being broken up, and which must have its existence constantly called into question!
In order to expose this disturbing essence, and to shift the frame, and to answer satisfactorily, we must position the United Kingdom as fundamentally a healthy organism which we can make stronger through our inspirational political leadership.
Instead of accepting their frame and saying "maybe sometime in 10 years" – which is like saying "Maybe in 10 years we'll have another opportunity to escape our bonds" – we should respond with a positive affirmation of the value and permanence of the United Kingdom in our lives, and do so with hope and vision and ideas for our future together. For example:
"We don't accept that we should be regularly calling into question the existence of the United Kingdom and destabilising our country with this sort of rhetoric. Our goal is to make Scotland such a success within the United Kingdom that the thought of separation in order to try to better our circumstances simply doesn't need to exist."
Let's start doing that!
Let's make Scotland a success, right now, within the United Kingdom.
Let's make the Union of the United Kingdom work for us all – and to do so to such an extent that the idea of separating never occurs to us, and doesn't even need to exist. And let's explain how we're going to do that (cue…elaborating upon vision and policy proposals).
That is far more captivating an answer, than just wandering aimlessly in someone else's hostile and repetitive frame.
It esteems the United Kingdom and its mutual value for us all. It affirms its centrality and permanence in our lives. It enables us to speak about our vision and policy proposals; and it can inspire people with a hopeful future.
Further Reading: See chapters 7-10 of One Big Country available on Amazon as a paperback or eBook here or search Amazon for "One Big Country".
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