Will indyref backf ire and give UK a say in Holyrood?
Warning from legal chief
THE UK Government could be allowed to intervene in devolved legislation if Nicola Sturgeon is given permission to hold a second indepedence referendum.
UK legal arguments submitted to the Supreme Court warn that granting the SNP permission to stage another vote may lead to ‘surprising consequences’.
The UK’s top law officer said a precedent could be set which allows law officers to intervene in the Bills of devolved governments before they have even been passed.
The SNP and Scottish Greens want a re-run of the 2014 vote in October next year and have asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether they can.
Yesterday, the Advocate General for Scotland, Lord Keith Stewart, told the court: ‘The Scottish parliament plainly does not have the competence to legislate for an advisory referendum on the independence of Scotland from the United Kingdom. That conclusion is unaffected by whether the referendum is, in its outcome, advisory or legally binding.’
A submission made to the court says: ‘The Lord Advocate’s approach gives rise to surprising consequences.
‘The effect would be that on any occasion in which the AGS [Advocate General for Scotland], for example, understands the Scottish Government to be formulating a legislative proposal which he considers to be outside legislative competence, a pre-emptive reference can be made of the issue, rather than waiting for the appropriate moment.’
Under Section 33 of the Scotland Act, the Advocate General, the Lord Advocate or the Attorney General may refer Bills passed by the Scottish parliament to the Supreme Court if they believe they fall outwith its competence.
The submission also refers the judges to the explanatory notes of the 1998 Scotland Act to create the devolution. In these, it is explicitly stated that ‘to hold a referendum on independence or the monarchy’ are reserved matters ‘and therefore outside the legislative competence of the parliament’.
A spokesman for the UK Government said: ‘The UK Government’s clear view remains that a Bill legislating for a referendum on independence would be outside the legislative competence of the Scottish parliament.’