The Scottish government cannot hold an independence referendum without the permission of the British government. That judges the Supreme Court Wednesday. A referendum may only be organized through United Kingdom legislation, but British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has already ruled out permission for this referendum.
According to Lord Reed, president of the court, Scotland “is not competent to legislate for an independence referendum.” The ruling is a victory for the British government, which does not want a referendum on a separation between Scotland and the United Kingdom.
Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon wanted to organize the plebiscite on October 19, 2023, but will now come up with an alternative plan with her nationalist party Scottish National Party (SNP). Sturgeon said earlier that if she loses the case, she will regard the 2024 elections as a ‘de facto’ referendum. She said she will campaign on the issue of independence with SNP and other pro-independence parties. The Prime Minister says disappointed about the decision of the court, but to respect it.
Poll opinion
The Scottish Government took up the case June to the High Court because British prime ministers repeatedly refused to allow Holyrood, the Scottish parliament, to hold the referendum. The plebiscite, called indyref2, would, according to Scotland, only have an “advisory role” to determine the opinions to gauge independence. But according to the British government, Scotland wants to make a decision on the future of the United Kingdom and the intention is ‘not just to gauge opinions’.
Scotland has been part of the United Kingdom since 1707 and got its own parliament in 1998, but all constitutional matters remained with the parliament in London. Prime Minister Sturgeon wanted to change that. Both the SNP and the Greens, which together hold 72 of the 129 seats, want secession from the United Kingdom. Never before have there been so many supporters of independence in the Scottish Parliament.
The last time an independence referendum was held in Scotland was in 2014. The then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, had given permission for this, under the condition that an independence referendum would only be held once per generation. In this referendum, 55 percent of voters voted against and 45 percent in favor of independence.
But this agreement was made before Brexit, so Sturgeon thinks it is time for a new referendum after eight years. A majority of Scots were against Brexit in 2016, but under pressure from the British government, the country was forced to leave the European Union. According to Sturgeon, “the British government tore up the agreements on the division of powers.”
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