Politics Indyref2 timetable ‘before 2021 vote’
THE preferred timetable and question for a second independence referendum are to be set out before next May’s Scottish Parliament election, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.
The First Minister said she would publish a draft bill “setting out the terms of a future referendum clearly and unambiguously”.
The pledge was included in the Scottish Government’s Programme for
Government 2020/21, which Ms Sturgeon delivered at Holyrood yesterday.
NICOLA Sturgeon is to set out her preferred timetable and question for a second independence referendum before next May’s Holyrood election.
The First Minister announced that she would publish a draft referendum bill “setting out the terms of a future referendum clearly and unambiguously to the people of Scotland”.
The promise was included in the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2020/21, which Ms Sturgeon set out at Holyrood yesterday.
It stated: “Before the end of his Parliament, we will publish a draft bill for an independence referendum – setting out the terms of a future referendum clearly and unambiguously to the people of Scotland.
“This will include the question to be asked, subject to appropriate testing by the Electoral Commission, and the timescale in which we consider the referendum should be held, taking account of the current state of the Covid-19 pandemic at the time of publication of the draft bill.”
It added: “If there is majority support for the bill in the Scottish Parliament in the next term, there could then be no moral or democratic justification whatsoever for any UK government to ignore the rights of the people of Scotland to choose our own future.”
Ms Sturgeon also produced a draft referendum bill in 2016 after the Leave vote in the Brexit referendum.
Like that one, the new draft bill will not become law before May, but it will be a useful tool in the election, helping Ms Sturgeon remind voters of Boris Johnson’s refusal to grant Holyrood the power to turn it into a reality.
The draft bill is expected to indicate a “window” for Indyref2 during the next five-year parliamentary term rather than a specific date.
Ms Sturgeon told MSPS that if Scotland were independent it could respond far better to Covid, including through a more welcoming migration system and a Universal Basic Income.
She said: “At next year’s election, we will make the case for Scotland to become an independent country, and seek a clear endorsement of Scotland’s right to choose our own future.”
However it also emerged yesterday that SNP ministers have told Scotland’s highest court that Indyref2 is not imminent in a case about whether Holyrood could hold it unilaterally.
“No bill has been introduced into the Scottish Parliament on a referendum on Scottish independence and no vote is imminent,” the Scottish Government said, according to the Times.
Ms Sturgeon’s main focus was on Covid and the economic recovery.
She announced a review of adult social care to create a National Care Service which could be a “lasting and positive legacy” from the crisis.
She also announced a £100 million Green Jobs Fund; a £60m Youth Guarantee ensuring all those aged 16 to 24 get a job, education or formal training; a National Transition Training Fund to support 10,000 people facing unemployment; and an extra £135m to recruit 1,400 teachers and 200 support staff to ensure young people catch up on lost education due to Covid-19.
Ms Sturgeon said there would also be a bill to enshrine the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into Scots law, calling it “one of the most ambitious pieces of legislation in the 20-year history of devolution”.
The bill would mean public authorities had to follow the UNCRC on the rights of children from early life, including the right to play, to be free from violence and to an education.
The First Minister said: “This is a programme for government which prepares us for what may well be a difficult winter. But it also encourages us to lift our eyes, find hope in our hearts, and plan for brighter days.”
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: “The First Minister just doesn’t get it. We need to take Scotland forward and recover from this crisis together, not go back to the divisions of the past.”
At next year’s election, we will make the case for Scotland to become an independent country