I WISH to respond to Andy Anderson, in particular regarding his suggestion that the Scottish Government should adopt a UN charter which would allow them to hold a legal referendum. He repeats this argument in his letter on Monday (Playing by the rules of the UK establishment is no ‘straight path’ to indy).

I have previously supported his proposition by suggesting that the Scottish Government should either follow his idea or explain to us clearly why this is not possible. I have also said that through my MSP, this suggestion was being considered by the relevant government committee.

I have received their reply quicker and more definitively than I had expected. I am very sorry that it makes it clear that the ruling of the Supreme Court applies to this reserved issue, leaving the Scottish Government not competent to follow the suggested route. Below is the relevant extract of the reply I received.

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“Turning to your query, while observing and implementing international obligations are specifically not reserved under the Scotland Act, this only applies to devolved matters within the competence of the Scottish Parliament. When incorporating international treaties into domestic law, the Scottish Parliament can only give effect to provisions within its powers and responsibilities. This route cannot be used to effectively extend the Parliament’s powers by claiming that the incorporated international treaty provisions now allow the Parliament or the Scottish Government to do anything that would have previously been beyond devolved competence.

“In November 2022, in an unanimous judgment, the Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to legislate for a referendum on Scottish independence. The Supreme Court was not asked to decide, and cannot decide, whether the Scottish Parliament should have the power to hold an independence referendum; it was asked to rule on the law relating to one route to a referendum: legislation in the Scottish Parliament. Ministers believe that the Supreme Court judgment that the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to hold an independence referendum demonstrates a weakness of the UK’s constitution, in that despite repeated election results returning a majority of MSPs who advocate for a referendum, a decision on whether Scotland should have a referendum or not is for the UK Government and Parliament.”

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Sadly we seem to be screwed by the ruling of the Supreme Court. I wish that those with the legal expertise and motivation – like for example, Joanna Cherry – could offer us an alternative legal route to bypass this ruling, but we must appreciate that no such route has been forthcoming.

We must accept that no such acceptance of independence negotiations from the UK Government will be forthcoming until we can force them to honour their claim that the UK is a voluntary union. To be clear, I rule out any violent means and am referring to democratic means. This can only mean that we must create a clear and settled mandate with clear majority support for independence. Whether this is demonstrated through a referendum or otherwise is not the focal point. Getting the UK Government to accept and negotiate our independence settlement is.

We must recreate a broad and united movement which incorporates all the indy-supporting parties and pressure groups to campaign to swell our numbers to a settled quantity well over 50%. 50%+1 will never be enough to achieve our aim. I recommend that 60% is both achievable and necessary to withstand the rigours from a reluctant UK Government over the two to three years the negotiations would take. How we can harness this united campaign is where we must now focus.

Campbell Anderson
Edinburgh