Robertson refuses to tell MSPS if ministers have legal advice on Indyref2 Bill
THE SNP Constitution Secretary has refused three times to say if ministers have taken legal advice on the competence of a Holyrood Bill for an independence referendum.
Angus Robertson stuck firmly to a scripted answer that it would break with accepted practice to say if the Scottish Government had done so.
Nicola Sturgeon has promised Indyref2 by the end of 2023, Covid permitting, however Boris Johnsion has refused to give Holyrood the power it needs to hold it.
The First Minister has said she will pass a Referendum Bill without Westminster’s consent regardless if this blocking continues, effectively daring the UK Government to challenge it at the Supreme Court, where it would probably be struck down.
Before introducing a Bill at Holyrood, ministers must secure agreement from the Government’s law officers that it is within the Parliament’s legislative competence.
They can also take external legal advice on legislation.
With Ms Sturgeon already asking her officials to work on a new independence prospectus but no date for the Referendum Bill yet, Tory MSP Donald Cameron asked Mr Robertson if the Government had taken any form of legal advice on the proposed legislation.
Mr Robertson said: “It’s a long established convention of this and previous governments that legal advice is not disclosed other than in exceptional circumstances, this reflects the public interest in the provision of free and frank legal advice, maintaining the right to confidentiality of communications between legal advisers and clients.”
Mr Cameron stressed he was “not looking for the content of any legal advice”, but Mr Robertson responded: “I’m going to rest on the answer that I gave previously to the learned gentleman who, as a member of the Faculty of Advocates, is well aware of the custom and practice in relation to the convention on legal advice.
“I’m not going to depart from that tradition today.”
Mr Robertson was pressed two more times on the issue, by Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie and Tory MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston, but both times refused to answer.
He told Mr Rennie, who said it was “extraordinary” the question could not be answered, that his answer had not changed.
“Rather than reading out the question he wrote before arriving, perhaps he would have listened to the answer I gave earlier, and I rest by it,” Mr Robertson said.
When Mr Johnston attempted again – claiming “secrecy has trumped transparency” – the Constitution Secretary added: “It’s a curious thing, now we have a third member who didn’t listen to the answer to the question.”
Mr Robertson then read out the answer he had given Mr Cameron.
Ms Sturgeon this week said she was sticking to her timetable for Indyref2 after SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford suggested the war in Ukraine could delay it.