Scottish independence: SNP announces plans for new bill on second referendum
Plans come after Supreme Court ruled Scottish Parliament cannot hold referendum without Westminster approval
The SNP has announced new plans to introduce a bill to allow Scotland to hold a second vote on independence.
The party is pushing for the Scottish Parliament to hold its own referendum on independence to “unlock Westminster’s denial of democracy”.
The new plans will be announced on Wednesday and seek to take over the House of Commons Order Paper on January 10 next year, and present the SNP’s new Scotland Act 1998 (Amendment) Bill.
This new bill aims to amend Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998, which details what Holyrood can and cannot legislate on, which includes “the Union of the Kingdoms of Scotland and England” and “the parliament of the United Kingdom”.
The new plans come almost one month after the Supreme Court ruled the Scottish Parliament cannot hold a second independence referendum without Westminster approval.
Commenting, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn MP said: “We will use our Opposition Day to put forward the Scotland Act 1998 (Amendment) Bill and seek to take control of Parliament’s order paper to unlock Westminster’s denial of democracy.
“The mechanism, which will seek to amend the Scotland Act 1998, will allow the Scottish Parliament to legislate for a referendum and reject any attempts by Westminster to impose a roadblock on Scotland’s democratic journey to independence.
“The people of Scotland have already voted for a referendum and now is the time for one.
“That is a democratic reality that politicians at Westminster must wake up to.”
Mr Flynn’s comments come as a new poll suggests Scottish voters back independence over remaining in the UK but signals warnings for the de-facto referendum method.
The YouGov poll, reported by the Times, of 1,090 voters found 47% would favour independence, while 42% support staying in the union.
Support for independence has increased by 4% since a previous survey in October, while the No vote fell by three points.
Mr Flynn added: “Four polls in a row now show majority support for independence, but with both the Tories and Labour joined at the hip in blocking democracy, it cannot be business as usual at Westminster.”
In response to SNP plans, a UK Government spokesperson said: “People in Scotland want both their governments to be concentrating on the issues that matter most to them – like growing our economy, getting people the help they need with their energy bills, and supporting our NHS.
“As the Prime Minister has been clear, we will continue to work constructively with the Scottish Government to tackle our shared challenges.”
Scottish Government ministers have been accused this week of “vanity” independence spending rather than prioritising the cost-of-living crisis in the upcoming budget statement.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney, who has stepped in as Finance Secretary while Kate Forbes is on maternity leave, will set out the 2023/24 budget on Thursday.
The Scottish Tories, including the party’s finance and economy spokeswoman Liz Smith have urged the Government to support households and key public services amid rising costs.
Ms Smith said the SNP is focused on its “independence obsession” and “sitting on money that could help hard-pressed families and businesses now”, adding: “It should immediately divert its vanity spending on a referendum that the courts have ruled out and abandon reckless plans for a costly, centralised National Care Service that everyone else can see is a bad idea.”