UK’s highest court to decide whether Scottish Parliament can call for independence consultation
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom will begin hearing this Tuesday on the Scottish government’s request to decide whether the Edinburgh Parliament has the power to call a referendum. It seems impossible that the Supreme Court chairman, Scottish Lord Reed, did not realize that he was setting the date of the case a day after the close of the fall conference of the pro-independence SNP.
This reactivates the interest in Scottish independence, which the Prime Minister, Liz Truss, did not want. He advocated during the election campaign to replace Boris Johnson by ignoring Nicola Sturgeon, because he is a person who “seeks attention”. In his ‘Thatcherite’ habit of affirming or denying things three times, he pronounced a ‘no, no, no’ to the independence referendum.
The Scottish Prime Minister made no news about her strategy for independence in the closing speech of the meeting of her co-religionists. He reiterated that he will respect the decision of the Supreme Court. Chaired by a Reed who has led the court to conservative decisions on public law issues.
If the Court decides Edinburgh has the power to call a referendum, Sturgeon will hold a referendum on October 19, 2023, just over nine years after the 2014 referendum, with a ‘no’ to independence victory. And if the Court says it doesn’t have those powers, the Scottish National Party and independence supporters will have to ‘think’ about how to proceed.
But the Glasgow lawyer has already broadcast her plan of action. In the next election, the UK general election scheduled for 2024, the SNP would campaign with the single point of independence on its agenda. It would be a form of referendum, she said, and would give the outgoing Scottish Parliament legitimacy to pursue the matter.
There is already a pro-independence majority -SNP plus Greens- in the meeting. And the most pertinent fact of the Scottish political landscape is Labor’s surge in the polls. 16% of voters who voted ‘yes’ to independence in the 2014 consultation said they would vote for Labor today. The ‘light’ union system changes its bill and abandons the conservatives as defenders.
Truss delivers his powerful treatment of northern evil. He hasn’t called Sturgeon since his appointment, even out of courtesy. Nor to the Welsh Chief Minister, Mark Drakeford. The Labor leader, Keir Starmer, is not as rude as Truss, but he has been blunt that there will be no pact with the SNP to rule. The latest polls give him a 50%-24% lead over the Conservatives. would dominate parliament.
Specific studies of independence do not indicate an evolution that allows one to be optimistic. There is a tie. The historic run of the large UK social attitudes survey showed 23% independence 10 years ago, 45% five years ago and 52% in the last edition. Sturgeon presented this evolution and the increased support among young people as a path that leads to the desired goal.
Attention now shifts from a low-key conference to a courtroom. The case concerns the history of the two parliaments, Edinburgh and Westminster, their merger in London in 1707, and Tony Blair’s ‘devolution’ in 1997. The then-passed Autonomy Act retains Westminster powers over constitutional matters.
Source: La Verdad
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