New vote on separation will be put to judge who infuriated First Minister by quashing power grab
THE Scottish Supreme Court president who will rule on a new independence referendum has rejected a previous Nicola Sturgeon power grab.
Lord Reed, who was educated in Edinburgh and replaced Baroness Hale in 2020, ruled last October that the SNP had overstepped its powers by attempting to enshrine treaties on child rights and local government into Scots law.
A UK Government challenge to the legislation provoked a furious response from the First Minister, with Ms Sturgeon branding the move “morally repugnant” ahead of last year’s Holyrood election.
However, Lord Reed sided emphatically with the UK ministers when he delivered his verdict in October, backed by all four other justices that heard the case, including the court’s other Scottish judge, Lord Hodge. The court ruled that Ms Sturgeon’s law “breaches the limitations imposed on the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament” in the Act that established devolution, because it would have affected Westminster’s ability to make laws for Scotland.
The ruling made clear that the UK Parliament had “unqualified power to make laws for Scotland” and Lord Reed sent the legislation back to Holyrood to be fixed.
The judgment was leapt on by Unionists who said it backed their suspicion that the SNP had deliberately ignored warnings that it was unlawful in an attempt to provoke a fight with the Tories ahead of the Holyrood election.
Experts believed it also had a greater significance – it set a precedent that made attempts to legislate for a unilateral referendum at Holyrood even less likely to succeed.
The Supreme Court confirmed last night that the reference from the Lord Advocate, Ms Sturgeon’s top legal officer, to consider an independence referendum had been received.