Nicola Sturgeon has just unveiled her independence referendum bill, which sets a firm date for the SNP’s desired ballot: the 18th October, 2023. The very theoretical question would be identical to 2014’s “Should Scotland be an independent country?” – unsurprising given when the Remain campaign tried copying this the Electoral Commission said no on the grounds it gives a boost to the ‘yes’ side. Sturgeon has confirmed the Scottish Lord Advocate will refer the bill to the UK Supreme Court this afternoon in an attempt to confirm the legality of the bill.
If the Supreme Court decides the Scottish Parliament doesn’t have the power to hold the referendum without a UK government-approved Section 30 order, Sturgeon says it will be the “fault of Westminster legislation, not the court“, and finally prove Scotland is locked in a union against its will. If all else fails, Sturgeon threatens that the SNP will turn the next election into “a de facto referendum“, by standing on the single-issue platform of independence. A damp squib of a threat given that’s the exact same platform the SNP has used to fight every national election upon since its foundation…
