THE Scottish Parliament will debate a motion on the country’s path to independence on the 10th anniversary of the 2014 referendum, The National can reveal.
MSPs are set to vote on a motion proposed by Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater on Wednesday, September 18, which will note that the people of Scotland “must have the opportunity to shape any improved relationship [between their two governments], including by establishing how the people of Scotland could progress a legal route to independence if that is their wish”.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer flatly ruled out entering negotiations on independence ahead of the General Election, when the SNP were arguing that winning a majority of Scottish seats would give them a mandate to open such talks.
Starmer’s party have also denied that the pro-independence majority in the Scottish parliament, elected in the 2021 Holyrood election, constitutes a mandate for a second referendum.
Slater said her motion, which will be debated at Holyrood as part of member’s business next week, will be an “important step” in working out the next steps on Scotland’s journey to independence.
The Scottish Green co-leader said: "I was inspired to get into politics by the referendum. There were lively and warm debates in every home and community across our country. But now there is a whole generation of young people who have not had the chance to have their say.
"Independence is about the people of Scotland taking our own future into our own hands. By seizing the opportunities it offers, we could make the fundamental changes that are so vital and do far more for people and planet.
"It would allow us to build a new and better future. The Scottish Greens believe that Scotland should be a democratic green republic. Others will have different visions, but without the chance to make the big decisions we won't be able to turn any of them into a reality.
"So much has happened over the last 10 years. We need to have the debate about the future we could build and the next stage on our journey to independence.
"My member's debate will be an opportunity for different ideas to be heard and an important step in that process. I hope to see MSPs from across the chamber joining me for it."
The 10th anniversary of the independence referendum will also be marked by rallies across the country, organised by Believe in Scotland. One will be held outside the Scottish Parliament from 7pm on the 18th, meaning Yessers will congregate as MSPs debate inside the Holyrood building.
Slater said that independence was about winning the powers to “do so much more to build a fairer, greener future focused on wellbeing and our environment”.
She went on: "It would allow us to re-join Europe and move on from a brutal Tory Brexit that Scotland rejected and that has cost jobs and increased prices. It would allow us to end the hostile environment against refugees and migrant communities and extend a hand of friendship to the world.
“It would give us the power to raise wages, support workers and invest in the public services we all rely on while undoing the punishing cuts that the Tories have implemented and that Labour is continuing.
Slater’s motion, which will be debated by MSPs, reads:
That the Parliament notes that 18 September 2024 marks 10 years since the referendum on Scottish independence; recognises what it considers to be the historic level of democratic engagement during the campaign, which, it understands, resulted in the highest voter turnout since universal suffrage; understands that support for Scottish independence has consistently polled at 45% to 50% of Scotland's population in the decade since; considers that the Scottish Parliament has been undermined in recent years by the UK Government, including through Brexit, the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, and the use of an order under section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998; welcomes the commitments made by both the Scottish Government and the recently elected UK Government to reset the relationship between the two governments, but considers that it remains unclear whether either government has set out what would constitute such a reset, and notes the belief that the Parliament and the people of Scotland, including those in the Lothian region, must have the opportunity to shape any improved relationship, including by establishing how the people of Scotland could progress a legal route to independence if that is their wish.
