Iain Dale Grills Jo Swinson Over "Hypocrisy" On Scottish Independence And Brexit

2 July 2019, 11:21 | Updated: 2 July 2019, 13:32

Iain Dale challenged Lib Dem leadership hopeful Jo Swinson over her "hypocrisy" for wanting a second referendum on leaving the European Union, but not a repeat of a vote for Scottish independence.

The Scottish Liberal Democrat has said she would want to see Scotland remain part of the United Kingdom, but her policy on Brexit is for the UK to remain and supports a second referendum.

Iain Dale put to Ms Swinson that the SNP, who have more MSPs than her party, were elected on a mandate on having another vote on Scottish independence.

But Ms Swinson refuted whether they have a mandate, pointing out the SNP "did not win a majority" and are operating as a minority government.

"They have more of a mandate than your party in Scotland and they stood on the issue of having a second referendum," Iain said.

Ms Swinson replied: "They lost MSPs, so to suggest there's some sort of clammer in Scotland to have 'Indy Ref 2', it's entirely the opposite."

Iain quizzed the MP on her views between the two referendums, asking Ms Swinson whether she thought it was "hypocritical" to want to repeat one but not the other.

He said: "How come you wish to deny the people of Scotland a second referendum on independence and yet you're so passionate about having a second referendum on Brexit?

"That's hypocritical isn't it?"

Ms Swinson replied: "I'm not going to apologise for standing up for the things I believe in and for what most people in Scotland want, which is to keep in our place in the UK and the EU.

"Clearly the inconsistency is the SNP who on the one hand say they want us to be in the EU but for some reason working with our closest partners in the UK family of nations is not something they want."

Watch above.