DScottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced on Wednesday that she would make the next general election a “de facto referendum” for Scotland’s independence. She wants her Scottish national party SNP to clarify how this is supposed to work at a party conference in spring 2023. “We must and we will find another democratic, legal and constitutional means for the Scottish people to express their will,” she said in Edinburgh. The general election, which must be held by January 2025, is “the first and most obvious possibility”.
Earlier, the Supreme Court, the UK’s highest constitutional court, rejected an initiative by the Scottish government, ruling that it could not call an independence referendum without London’s approval. The five judges thus confirmed the legal opinion that matters affecting the Union of the Kingdom may only be decided by Parliament in Westminster.
Before the independence referendum of 2014, in which 55 to 45 percent voted to remain in the Union, David Cameron’s government at the time issued a “Section 30 Order” that gave Edinburgh the special right to prepare the referendum by law. Without this act, the Scottish government will not be able to hold a “legal” plebiscite in the future either.
Sturgeon said he was “disappointed” with the verdict but said he “respected it.” It is a “hard pill to swallow” that the Scots are “deprived of their democratic right to determine their own future”. This calls into question whether the Kingdom is still “a union of voluntary partners”. The verdict was not expected until next year. Lord Reed, the (Scottish) President of the Court, explained that the Supreme Court made a judgment only six weeks after the hearings, with the constitutional urgency, but also with the unanimity of the judges, which was established early on.
Legal recourse has thus been exhausted for the government in Edinburgh, which is supported by the SNP and the Scottish Greens, who are also separatist. She now wants to focus on increasing the political pressure on London. The main British parties have “taken a position of anti-democracy” that they will not be able to hold for long, Sturgeon said. Neither the Tories nor the Labor Party are currently showing any willingness to give in to Edinburgh’s request.
This could change if the Labor Party needs support from the SNP after a narrow election victory in two years’ time. The Unionist camp is also considering accommodating the Scots with further autonomy rights, new institutions and more financial support. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed the verdict in the lower house and reiterated his opposition to a referendum. Scots would now look to his government to solve the current economic problems. “This is a time for politicians to work together,” he said.
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