NICOLA Sturgeon will next week demand that the power to hold an independence referendum should be transferred to Holyrood on a permanent basis, according to an expert on constitutional affairs.
Jess Sergeant, a researcher on devolution and Brexit at the leading think tank the Institute for Government, made the assessment after the First Minister repeatedly underlined in recent weeks that the argument over Scotland’s future is a matter for people living in country to decide.
The FM emphasised the point in her speech yesterday, telling voters: "Whether or not Scotland becomes an independent country must be a matter for the people who live here – and for all of us, wherever we come from. It is not a decision for any Westminster Prime Minister – and certainly not for one who suffered a crushing defeat in Scotland last night,”
Sergeant told The National her interpretation of the FM’s words was she would be asking for a permanent devolution of independence referendum powers when she made her request for a Section 30 order next week to Boris Johnson.
She said: “My reading of the situation, which is slightly interpreting what she is saying and speculation, is she is going to ask for power to be devolved on a more permanent basis to hold a referendum ... She has spoken a lot that it should be for Scotland to decide so I think logically that argument leads to the conclusion that that power should be within the competence of the Scottish Parliament always, rather than devolved on a case by case basis on whether Westminster will allow a referendum.”
Such a request for a permanent transfer of power to hold an independence referendum would mark a major change to process which paved the way to the 2014 vote when the Section 30 order was given to Holyrood on a temporary basis after an agreement between David Cameron and Alex Salmond.
Sergeant said: “What a Section 30 does is amend the powers that are reserved for Westminster, the order could be to devolve the power on a permanent or temporary basis.
"So she could still be asking for a Section 30 order to give them the power permanently. Last time it was done prior to 2014 it was agreed the union was a reserved matter but there was an exemption for an independence referendum if that referendum was held before 31 December 2014, that end date effectively made it temporary and it expired, but you can have a Section 30 order when you don’t have an end date on it which would be forever. My sense is that this is what she will ask for just because of the emphasis she has been putting on the issue it is for Scotland to decide.”
She added: “If [Scotland] doesn’t have that power within its competence to determine it’s own future it can only do so with the agreement of Westminster. The SNP would make the case that it undermines the principle that it should be for Scotland to decide ... The argument the SNP would make is that it should be for Scotland to decide always and that it shouldn’t need agreement from the UK Government.”
The FM has said she will ask for the Section 30 order by Christmas. A SNP spokesman declined to discuss Sergeant’s analysis, saying “additional steps” would be outlined in the coming days.
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