SNP MP urges party ‘prepare for boycott of Westminster’
The Scottish Government should organise a referendum on independence itself and begin to “withdraw from the apparatus of the British state” if the UK Government continues to refuse the legal permission to hold indyref2, a senior SNP MP has said.
Pete Wishart, the longestserving SNP MP and a member of the nationalist front bench at Westminster, warned against holding an unofficial independence vote, without the legal authority under section 30 of the Scotland Act as in 2014.
But he argued that if action is not taken the independence movement risked being stuck in the same “hellish limbo” as
Catalonia, which held a referendum in 2017 without legal authority from the Spanish government.
In a blog post, the Perthshire MP says securing a majority in the 2021 Scottish election “should be the end of the matter” and lead swiftly to an agreement with the UK Government on a referendum.
Boris Johnson has ruled out granting permission for a secondvote on scottish independence while he is Prime Minister. But if his government continues to refuse legal authority for a vote, Mr Wish art says Nicola Sturgeon “should be prepared to move beyond the section 30 process”.
“If the UK refuses to participate in an agreed referendum in the face of majority support and a clear democratic mandate, we must presume that they have decided to exempt themselves from their obligations and responsibilities as a partner in the Union,” Mr Wishart wrote.
“We would then have the grounds to seek to secure our independence without their participation.
“This should involve a referendum designed in Scotland where a last invitation is offered to the UK to participate to put the case to remain in the Union.
“A request to the EU to sanction this referendum should be made and every attempt to involve them in the designing of that referendum should be pursued.”
The SNP MP continues: “We should also concurrently start ‘the equivalent’ of an accession process as a substate to rejoin the EU. Where there is no provision in the EU rules to allow for this, we should express our intention to rejoin and seek their approval and participation in designing a process to achieve that outcome.
“We would say to the EU that the UK is refusing our democratic right as a nation to be part of the EU and we should do all we can to keep Scotland aligned with EU regulations.
“Beyond that, we should be looking at withdrawing from the apparatus of the UK state and starting to informally acquire the responsibilities currently exercised by the UK.
“This could start by withdrawing from the inter governmental infrastructure determining the management of the four nations of the UK.
“This could be escalated up to and including the participation in institutions of the UK Parliament.”