Denying democracy for Scotland is unsustainable

When I was first elected to the House of Commons in 2001 as one of five SNP MPS, the Scottish Parliament had been established for just two years and the Scottish Government was made up of a coalition between Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

The SNP was in opposition at Holyrood and we were very much a minority party at Westminster. I would, of course, have preferred it if the SNP had enjoyed a majority of Scottish seats at Westminster and that we were in government at Holyrood – but the people of Scotland had made their choice in elections and we accepted that without question.

Twenty years on and the political landscape in Scotland is very different. The SNP has won the overwhelming majority of Scottish Westminster seats and the Scottish Parliament has its biggest evermajorityinfavourofindependence and a referendum.

The manifesto commitment to hold a referendum on which those victories were secured was unambiguous. But instead of accepting the choice of the people of Scotland, the Westminster parties are seeking to deny and stand in the way of democracy. That is unacceptable and unsustainable.

But it’s not just democracy that is being denied. The refusal to accept the result of elections in Scotland challenges the very basis on which the UK is supposed to be founded – a partnership of nations in a voluntary union.

As far as the Tory Government is concerned, supported all the way by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, the UK is no longer a partnership or a voluntary union. Instead it is a political system in which the will of the Westminster Parliament must always trump the wishes of the people of Scotland.

Whatever your views of independence, this alarming conception of the UK will surely be a shock to many who believe in partnership, democracy and co-operation. It is now clear the only way to build a proper equal partnership among our family of nations is for Scotland to become independent.

Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling provided clarity on the legal position – that the Scottish Parliament cannot hold a referendum without the consent of Westminster.

As a party that believes in the rule of law we accept that judgment, but we will never give up on Scottish democracy and the right of people to decide their own future.

That future is very different to the one people voted on in 2014. The main Westminster parties, Tory and Labour alike, are committed not just to Brexit but to a hard Brexit with all the economic damage that is causing to Scotland.

They are committed to the failed UK economic model which delivers low growth and low productivity, but high inequality, making it much more difficult for people to cope with the cost of living crisis. A better future is possible and we are determined the people of Scotland should have the opportunity to vote for it.

l Angus Robertson is the Scottish Government’s constitution secretary