THE SNP have been urged to support an Alba MP’s bid to give Holyrood the power to hold indyref2.
Neale Hanvey will today attempt to get a bill which would devolve the power to hold referendums on the constitution to the Scottish Parliament.
It will be the second time he has brought forward his Scotland (Self Determination) Bill, having previously tabled it as a private members’ bill in February last year.
He will bring it forward on Tuesday under Parliament’s “10 minute” rule. It has support from SNP MPs Joanna Cherry and Carol Monaghan as well as Angus MacNeil, who now sits as an independent following his expulsion from the party.
While it is likely the bill will not pass should it go to a vote, Hanvey has challenged SNP MPs to back the proposed bill, saying a vote on it would be a chance to “register their voice in the face of Westminster intransigence”.
Hanvey’s bill would give the Scottish Parliament the power to hold indyref2 if “the Scottish public has demonstrated its support for the holding of such a referendum” and limiting referendums on independence to one every seven years, at most.
READ MORE: I hope for more SNP support when I bring back self-determination bill
Hanvey said: “There must be a credible and viable route for the people of Scotland to choose their own constitutional future. This bill offers just such a route.
“It places the power to decide firmly where it belongs – in the hands of the people of Scotland and it does so by transferring the power to hold a referendum on Independence to the Scottish Parliament.”
Throwing down the gauntlet to the SNP, the Alba MP added: “I am challenging the SNP as a party founded on the promise of independence to back my Self-Determination Bill.
“Should there be a vote, every independence supporting MP needs to register their voice in the face of Westminster intransigence. Scotland’s voice must be heard.”
An SNP spokesperson said: "SNP MPs will always vote for independence. We'll support this bill, if it goes to a vote."
Christine Jardine, the LibDem’s Scotland spokesperson, said she was opposing the bill, calling it “divisive and unnecessary”.
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