Calling second poll not as easy as it might seem

NICOLA Sturgeon’s speech on her programme for government ran to 27 pages but it only took her until paragraph four before she mentioned independence.

The First Minister made the prospect of another referendum sound easy.

Both the SNP and Greens campaigned before May’s election on manifestos calling for an IndyRef2.

Now they have signed a cooperation agreement in Parliament, there is a built-in pro-independence majority of MSPs.

But neither party told voters in advance they planned to formally work together.

The election result delivered a clear victory for the SNP but it wasn’t an endorsement of a future coalition.

This is a point you can expect opposition MSPs to make whenever the

subject of

IndyRef mandates is raised. Sturgeon told MSPs yesterday that civil servants will now resume work on a fresh prospectus for independence so voters can make an “informed choice” at a referendum she wants to happen before the end of 2023.

The big unanswered question is what she does if the UK Government continues to refuse to loan Holyrood the powers required to hold such a vote.

The Scottish Government could opt to plough on and pass legislation that sets out a question and a referendum date.

Such a course of action would be littered with legal pitfalls and could see the matter end up in the courts.

Neither side relishes the idea of a constitutional row being argued by lawyers.

Yesterday’s speech reaffirmed Sturgeon’s intention to call an IndyRef2.

But it didn’t explain how she’ll make it happen in the face of Westminster

opposition.