“TODAY is the start of a process that I believe will lead Westminster to say yes to a referendum, and Scotland to a yes to independence,” John Swinney said as MSPs backed his request for a Section 30 order.
On Tuesday, a majority of MSPs voted in favour of the First Minister’s motion calling for the UK Government to grant a Section 30 order to devolve powers to the Scottish Parliament for indyref2.
After the Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that Holyrood does not have the powers to hold a vote on Scotland’s constitutional future, as it is reserved to Westminster, the UK Government would have to temporarily devolve the powers for a vote to go ahead.
In the first full debate of the new parliamentary term, MSPs debated a motion put forward by Swinney which called “on the UK Government to make a Section 30 order under the Scotland Act 1998 to devolve the powers to the Scottish Parliament to hold a referendum on Scottish independence”.
MSPs voted 72 in favour, 55 against the motion, due to the Scottish Parliament’s record pro-independence majority.
Opening the debate, the First Minister said that he believes Westminster keeps blocking a second referendum because they know that the people of Scotland will vote in favour of leaving the UK.
“Today, I seek confirmation from this Parliament that this is a voluntary union and that the people of Scotland have the right to decide whether we remain in that union,” Swinney said.
“That is a principle that should be accepted by all those in this chamber who believe in independence but also all those who believe in the Union.
“Because what is at stake are the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland.
“The people have elected a new Parliament. This new Parliament has the opportunity today to make its position clear. I invite Parliament to put Scotland’s Future in Scotland’s hands.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who put forward a failed amendment attempting to stop the call for a Section 30 order, made numerous sly references to “embezzlement” during his contribution, following Peter Murrell pleading guilty to more than £400,000 of embezzlement from the SNP in Edinburgh on Monday.
He said: “The overwhelming majority of the statement focused on issues I think people would want to be the concentration of this SNP government, but if you look at the balance of the motion we're being asked to vote on today it's overwhelmingly about one issue, and one issue alone.
“And that is the SNP First Minister's only ambition and only obsession, and that is the issue of independence, and I think that is a missed opportunity in this first debate of this new Parliament.”
It wasn’t the only mention of Murrell during party leader opening statements. Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay – who opened his speech by saying "here we go again" – accused former first minister Nicola Sturgeon of using the "tactics of organised crime" during a police interview after she was arrested as part of Operation Branchform.
Findlay's comments relate to a story in The Scottish Sun which claimed Sturgeon repeatedly said "no comment" during police questioning. Sturgeon was later released without charge and has maintained that she was unaware of Murrell's criminal actions.
The First Minister did not look impressed by Findlay’s contribution.
Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer told MSPs that he respects the arguments for the Union and for independence but “can’t respect the increasingly desperate ways that are being used to justify denying giving the people of Scotland a choice over our future”.
He added that in the 12 years following the 2014 independence referendum: “I've got to be honest I do think that far too much of our focus as a movement has been on process rather than on the cause and of that vision itself.
“We know that much of this is in Westminster's hands. We believe that's wrong, but it is the reality. We should focus on what we can change, and that's public opinion.
“There's currently a marginal lead for independence in the polls, but I think we can concede that is basically 50-50, and the best way to grow support for Scottish self-government is to do self-government well, to maximise the use of the powers that we've got.”
Greer's amendment, the most “effective way” to grow support for Scottish independence and meet the challenges facing Scotland is “through more effective use of existing devolved powers”, was agreed by MSPs.
Malcolm Offord, Reform UK’s Scotland leader, told MSPs that his party hadn’t put forward an amendment because “the constitution is a reserved matter for Westminster” and MSPs “should not even be discussing this today”.
“It’s become increasingly clear to me that the SNP position on independence, is they don't actually want it, because if they did they would have spent the last 12 years actually preparing Scotland to become independent," he said.
“They would’ve spent the last 12 years answering the questions they couldn't answer in 2014, like currency.”
Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish LibDem leader, dismissed the debate as “performative”, and said that Section 30 order “will be requested, and it will be declined”.
Cole-Hamilton said this is because Swinney “manifestly failed” to return a majority of SNP MSPs.
Sarwar, Findlay and Cole-Hamilton's amendments all fell. Swinney's motion passed as amended with the addition of the Scottish Greens.
Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth, closing the debate, said that "in a voluntary Union people should be able to change their minds".
She said the vote was "to ask again to run that referendum, to ask the people to give their views on Scotland’s future".
