Test wildcat Scexit poll in Supreme Court, says MP Cherry

Deputy Scottish Political Editor

A SENIOR Nationalist MP has urged Scotland’s top law officer to test Holyrood’s powers to hold a Scexit referendum without Westminster’s consent.

Joanna Cherry said the First Minister should be prepared to trigger a legal challenge that would reveal whether the Scottish Government can call a consultative vote.

But Nicola Sturgeon has said that while she will not rule out a consultative vote, she is in no rush to test the legality.

She believes that if the Supreme Court was to reject her bid, it would set back the cause for independence.

However, writing in the Times, Miss Cherry states that Lord Advocate James Wolffe should ‘proactively’ refer questions on the legality of a referendum to the Supreme Court. She wrote: ‘If they found the Bill to be within competence, then the legality of the referendum would be beyond doubt.

‘If they did not, then I do not believe we would be any further back than we are now.’

Powers over a referendum are reserved to Westminster. Miss Sturgeon has insisted she will hold a vote this year, but Boris Johnson has said no.

SNP splits have deepened over whether to hold a consultative vote or unveil a plan B for breaking up the UK.

An SNP spokesman said: ‘The SNP Government has a cast-iron democratic mandate to hold an independence referendum – that is a matter of fact.

‘The more the Tories try to block the right of the people of Scotland to choose their own future, the more support for a referendum, and for independence, will continue to rise.’

‘Legality would be beyond doubt’