Indyref court ruling due next week

earlier this year. It is intended to bring legal clarity to the question of whether Holyrood can legislate to hold a referendum without the consent of Westminster.

The judgment will come just six weeks after the hearings took place in London in front of a panel of five judges. The judgment will answer whether the case is premature due to the fact there is only a proposed bill and not an actual, amended, bill, before it moves on to the question of competency.

Central to this will be the question whether a referendum bill relates to reserved matters or not. the court may rule that the bill is premature, but still offer a judgment on whether it would be within Holyrood’s power.

The judment will be handed down live on the Supreme Court website at 9.45am next Wednesday.

Should the Scottish Government win, seen as unlikely by legal experts, it will move to legislate for a second independence referendum to take place on October 19, next year.