Britain’s Supreme Court blocks Scotland’s fresh independence bid

LONDON - Britain’s top court ruled on Wednesday that the Scottish government cannot hold a second referendum on independence next year without approval from the British parliament, dealing a blow to nationalists.

“The Scottish Parliament does not have the power to legislate for a referendum on Scottish independence,” Robert Reed, the president of the UK Supreme Court, said.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was “disappointed” by the decision.

“A law that doesn’t allow Scotland to choose our own future without (UK parliament) consent exposes as myth any notion of the UK as a voluntary partnership,” the Scottish National Party leader tweeted, while stressing she respected the ruling.

Ms Sturgeon’s devolved government in Edinburgh wanted to hold a vote in October next year on the question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

The British government, which oversees constitutional affairs for the whole country, has repeatedly refused to give Edinburgh the power to hold a referendum.

It considers that the last one – in 2014, when 55 per cent of Scots rejected independence – settled the question for a generation.

But Ms Sturgeon and her ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) say there is now an “indisputable mandate” for another independence referendum, particularly in light of Britain’s departure from the European Union.

Most voters in Scotland opposed Brexit.

Scotland’s last parliamentary election returned a majority of pro-independence lawmakers for the first time.

At a hearing in the UK Supreme Court last month, lawyers for the government in London argued that the Scottish government could not decide to hold a referendum on its own.

Permission had to be granted because the constitutional make-up of the four nations of the United Kingdom was a “reserved” matter for the government in London.

Lawyers for the Scottish government had said they want a ruling on the rights of the devolved parliament in Edinburgh if London continues to block an independence referendum.

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, Scotland’s top law officer, said Scottish independence was a “live and significant” issue in Scottish politics.

The Scottish government is seeking to create its own legal framework for another referendum, arguing that the “right to self-determination is a fundamental and inalienable right”.

“The question of whether such a poll is within the competence of the Scottish parliament... is an issue that I invite this court to finally resolve,” said Ms Bain.

Stephen Tierney, a professor of constitutional theory at the University of Edinburgh Law School, had written in a recent blog about the case that Scotland’s bid to legislate to hold a new referendum would “most likely” be declared to be beyond its powers.

In such a situation, Ms Sturgeon has promised to make the next UK general election, which is due by January 2025 at the latest, a de facto verdict on independence.

Ms Sturgeon’s SNP ran in the 2021 Scottish parliamentary elections on a promise to hold a legally valid referendum after the Covid-19 crisis subsided. AFP, REUTERS