MP WON’T RULE OUT WILDCAT VOTE
Westminster permission ‘is not needed for Scexit poll’
A SENIOR Nationalist yesterday refused to rule out pressing ahead with a ‘wildcat’ independence referendum.
Former SNP deputy leader Stewart Hosie was accused of ‘trying to get separation through the back door’ after saying a vote could be held even if Boris Johnson’s Government refuses to give its consent.
It opens up the prospect of an illegal Catalonia-style ‘wildcat’ vote which probably would be boycotted by pro-Union supporters.
Nicola Sturgeon will give a statement to MSPs today and plans to publish a document this week outlining ‘the democratic case for the transfer of power to hold a referendum on Scotland’s future’. But Mr Johnson has vowed never to negotiate with her on the issue because the 2014 vote was supposed to be ‘once in a generation’ and he wants to move on from years of division.
The legally binding 2014 vote took place only after the UK Government agreed to transfer the power to hold it through a Section 30 order.
Mr Hosie, MP for Dundee East, said: ‘You don’t need a Section 30 order to have a referendum. A Section 30 order is important because it then commits both sides to accept the result. We’d argue far better to have a fully constitutional, fully legal and fully accepted referendum through that transfer of power.
‘Remember, no referendum is legally binding, all referendums in the UK are consultative, we know that. But far better to have the Section 30 transfer so that in advance both sides commit to respecting the result.’
Asked by Sky News if the SNP would go ahead without Westminster agreement, he said it was not smart to unveil a plan B until plan A is ‘out the park’.
Pamela Nash, of the Scotland in Union campaign group, said: ‘The 2014 referendum has been described by Nicola Sturgeon as the “gold standard” and we were promised the result would be respected. So why has Stewart Hosie refused to respect the result? Trying to get separation through the back door would be simply unacceptable for the people of Scotland.
‘Scotland’s future is already in Scotland’s hands. Barely a quarter of Scots want a divisive second Scexit referendum next year.
‘The majority of people voted last week for parties that support Scotland remaining in the UK. Leaving the UK is not the answer to the challenges we are facing – it would be the cause of more.’
Legal expert Professor Aileen McHarg said the SNP could press ahead with a referendum in order to ‘provoke’ legal action from the UK Government, allowing the issue to be settled in the courts.
Asked what Miss Sturgeon could do if Mr Johnson refuses to grant a vote, Professor McHarg, from
Durham University, said: ‘There’s not very much I can see that would be possible in terms of the Scottish Government launching a legal action itself, in terms of trying to force the UK Government to issue a Section 30 order.
‘Section 30 is just a power for the UK Government to adjust the division between reserved and devolved matters. So it’s hard to see any obligation on the UK Government to issue that.
‘What the Scottish Government could perhaps do is to try to provoke legal action in the sense that it could try to go ahead and legislate anyway for a second referendum. It was unclear back in 2012 whether Holyrood already had the power to authorise a referendum. That is very, very likely to be challenged. So the option would be to try to provoke a challenge and get that finally sorted in court.’
Miss Sturgeon has signalled she may demand the full devolution of the power to hold referendums.
Angus MacNeil, Nationalist MP for the Western Isles, suggested at the weekend that if the UK Government does not allow a referendum, all Nationalist MPs should resign and trigger by-elections in an attempt to establish a mandate for another vote.
SNP councillor Chris McEleny said on social media: ‘There are not many examples of countries gaining their independence by waiting for permission from the state they wished to gain independence from. Perhaps we should be having that debate on plan B.’
Conservative MSP Annie Wells said: ‘It’s refreshing to hear the SNP finally acknowledge the Edinburgh Agreement, which involved both sides agreeing to respect the result.
‘The SNP should now be focusing its efforts on domestic issues, not the break-up of Britain.’
Ahead of her statement today in the Scottish parliament, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘We are facing a Conservative government which Scotland did not vote for and which presents a real danger to our country.
‘The Scottish parliament has a duty to protect the values that people in Scotland voted for. I believe we can only fully do that with independence, and that is why, later this week, I will take the next steps to secure Scotland’s right to choose.’
Comment – Page 16
‘Try to provoke legal action’