Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
Kezia Dugdale, the Labour leader, says the Scottish people sent Sturgeon a clear message: Get on with governing.
Sturgeon says she will not proceed with legislation for a second referendum now.
She says she wants Scotland to be in control of its own future.
Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, is speaking now.
She says Sturgeon’s obsession with independence cost the SNP 21 seats and half a million votes at the election.
She says confidence in Sturgeon’s leadership is falling by the hour.
Why won’t Sturgeon just take this off the table for the duration of this parliament?
Sturgeon says that would be wrong because the Tories are taking Scotland down a path that could be devastating. At the end of the process people should have a choice. But, equally, they do not want to decide when that choice should be exercised now.
Sturgeon says the SNP will continue to make the case for independence.
Sturgeon says the Scottish parliament has a right to call a second referendum.
The SNP has now won two elections on this platform, she says.
The mandate the Scottish government has is “beyond doubt”.
But deciding when to exercise it is a matter of judgment. And she says it must be exercised in the interests of the nation as a whole.
She says she respects those who don’t want a referendum. Others want one tomorrow.
But she says many people do not fall into either category. They worry about the future. They think it is not right to have a referendum “right now”.
They want more clarity, about Brexit and about the alternatives.
And they want the Scottish government to focus on getting the best Brexit deal.
She says that is even more important given the opportunity, “however narrow”, of keeping the UK in the single market.
Sturgeon says she still wants to give people a choice at the end of the Brexit process.
Seh will reset the plan, she says.
Sturgeon says Scotland should be in control of its future.
The ability to choose a new direction must be available to Scotland.
Sturgeon says she thinks people will demand a choice on Scotland’s future as a result of Brexit.
Brexit is even more uncertain now, she says.
She says even a so-called good deal would be worse than EU memberhip.
And there is a “very real risk” of the UK crashing out without a deal, she says.
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, is giving her statement to the Scottish parliament.
She says her job is to build up as much consensus as possible.
After the election she said she would reflect on the outcome. She will set out her conclusions this afternoon, she says.
John Healey, the shadow housing minister, is calling on the government to speed up cladding checks. Speaking after Number 10 revealed that 95 tower blocks have now failed fire safety tests for cladding, Healey said:
These results point to a collapse in our system of fire safety checks and controls.
Ministers must now do a great deal more to reassure residents that everything is being done to keep them safe.
They must improve the testing process which has so far been too slow, too narrow and too secretive. The prime minister promised that 100 tests a day could be done but two weeks on from the Grenfell Tower fire only 95 have been completed.
Ministers must also not outsource all responsibility for urgent remedial action to councils and housing associations. They must guarantee that where fire risks are found they will make available upfront funding, including for re-cladding buildings, fire prevention work and retro-fitting sprinkler systems, starting with the highest-risk blocks.
Nicola Sturgeon’s officials say the UK government has previously retreated in disputes over funding, settling a row over the Treasury’s initial refusal to share out Olympics funding for east London.
Sturgeon is now claiming Scotland is due some £2.9bn based on the way the Barnett formula works for UK government spending. But the details of that Olympics deal in 2011 show Scotland won only a tiny amount of money, raising questions over what Nicola Sturgeon’s administration in Edinburgh will actually settle for this time.
A Cabinet Office press release from December 2011 shows Scotland only received an extra £16m, Wales £8.9m and Northern Ireland executive £5.4m even though total funding for the new Olympics park, stadia and transport links for the 2012 games totalled some £7bn.
However, the wording of that deal suggests politics trumped the Treasury rule book.
Alex Salmond’s then Scottish government invoked the same joint ministerial committee dispute procedure which Derek Mackay, the Scottish finance secretary, is using in his complaint to the Treasury today. (See 1.03pm.)
In 2011, the Cabinet Office insisted the Olympics deal was a one-off, and not agreed as part of the Barnett formula rules, but its language then could well have relevance to the DUP crisis today. The agreement “confirmed [the] administrations’ shared interest in resolving those issues creatively and constructively with a view to ensuring the success of the 2012 Olympic games”, it said then.
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