Sturgeon wrongfoots Westminster by sending indyref2 fight to Supreme Court
NICOLA STURGEON is to take the battle to stage her own independence referendum to the Supreme Court as she blindsided the Prime Minister by demanding an urgent ruling on whether this would be lawful.
The First Minister said she would not allow Scotland to be a “prisoner of Boris Johnson” by letting him block another separation vote, and disclosed her preferred date for a rerun was Oct 19 2023.
She published a Referendum Bill for a “consultative” vote to be held and disclosed that Dorothy Bain, the Lord Advocate, Scotland’s most senior law officer, had referred it to Britain’s highest court.
In a move senior UK Government sources admitted they had not expected, Ms Sturgeon said Ms Bain had asked for a ruling whether the legislation was within Holyrood’s powers, as constitutional affairs are reserved to Westminster.
The Supreme Court said the request had been referred to Lord Reed of Allermuir, its president. The Scot will decide when the case will be heard, how many justices will consider it and who will sit on the bench.
Lord Reed ruled last October that the SNP had overstepped its powers by attempting to enshrine treaties on child rights and local government into Scottish law, in a decision that was seen as damaging to Ms Sturgeon’s case that she could hold her own referendum.
With most legal experts predicting that the court will side with the UK Government, Ms Sturgeon said she would then fight the next general election on the single issue of independence and use it as a “de facto referendum”.
She indicated she would try to whip up Scots’ anger that they had been denied another separation vote by arguing that a Supreme Court defeat would signal that “any notion of the UK as a voluntary union of nations is a fiction”.
Sources close to the First Minister indicated that the benchmark for “victory” would be the SNP receiving more than 50 per cent of votes but her official spokesman refused to say whether she would then demand talks with the UK Government over an independence settlement.
Ms Sturgeon, who is scheduled to have a private audience with the Queen today, told journalists: “If we get into that scenario, I’ll set out much more about exactly what we’re asking people for and what we will do with that.” But it remained unclear why the Prime Minister would accede to such a plan and senior UK Government sources described it as “bonkers”. One said: “It’s the beginning of the end for her.”
Speaking as he travelled to the Nato summit in Madrid, Mr Johnson admitted that he had not seen her proposals but added: “We will study it very carefully and we will respond properly.”
Mr Johnson has repeatedly stated that he will refuse any formal request from Ms Sturgeon for a Section 30 order, the legislative device used to transfer powers for the 2014 referendum.
She yesterday wrote to the Prime Minister saying she was “ready” to hold negotiations with him over the terms of an order if he changed his mind.
However, she told MSPS she would not “allow Scottish democracy to be a
prisoner of Boris Johnson” and unveiled her Bill, which included her preferred question, asking if Scotland “should be an independent country”.
This is the same question that was on the ballot in the 2014 referendum, but the Electoral Commission changed the format to Remain/leave for the 2016 Brexit vote as it was seen to give an advantage to the “Yes” campaign.
However, Ms Sturgeon does not want to change the question, with opinion polling showing fewer Scots back independence if they are asked whether they want to leave the UK.
Even if Ms Bain agreed to certify the legislation as being within Holyrood’s powers, Ms Sturgeon admitted it would face a legal challenge from the UK Government if it was passed by MSPS.
In a surprise move, she argued that “we must seek now to accelerate to the point when we have legal clarity” and the Lord Advocate had agreed to “make a reference of the provisions in the Bill to the Supreme Court” for a speedy decision.
If her government emerged victorious, she said there would be “no doubt whatsoever that the referendum is lawful” and the Bill would be tabled at Holyrood immediately.
But she insisted that it “would not be the end of the matter” if she lost as she pledged “the general election will be a de facto referendum”, with the SNP fighting its campaign on the “single question” of separation.
Ms Sturgeon said a Supreme Court defeat would be Westminster’s fault and would make clear to Scots that “any suggestion that the UK is a partnership of equals is false”. Rehearsing her central theme for the election campaign, she added: “There would be few stronger or more powerful arguments for independence than that.”