SNP to bide time on independence from United Kingdom

Significance

With the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and 2015 UK general election behind them, parties in Scotland are starting to focus on the May 2016 Scottish Parliament elections.

Impacts

• The Conservatives' Scottish Parliament vote share is likely to rise at Labour's expense, through an appeal to hardcore unionists.
• In the UK EU membership referendum, the SNP will run its own campaign against leaving the EU ('Brexit').
• A UK vote for Brexit, with Scotland voting for continued EU membership, would trigger a second independence referendum.
• The likely renewal of the Scotland-based UK Trident nuclear system, which the SNP opposes, could also be a pretext for a second referendum.
• Given the 2014 'no' vote, a second Scottish referendum could be more constitutionally controversial than the first.