Nicola Sturgeon’s plans for a Scottish independence referendum in October 2023 should be declined by the Supreme Court as the matter "plainly relates to reserved matters”, the UK Government has stated. In its published submission to the Supreme Court the Westminster government challenged the application from Holyrood.
The Scottish Government’s Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain, was asked by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to refer the draft Bill on a referendum to judges in London to decide if Holyrood has the power to hold a vote without the consent of Westminster.
But in his submission to the Supreme Court, the UK Government’s law officer, Lord Stewart, homed in on the fact that Bain has not herself ruled on whether the proposed legislation is in the competence of the Scottish parliament.
Stewart, the Advocate General for Scotland, stated: “Taken at its highest, the effect is that a Bill cannot be introduced into the Scottish Parliament by a Minister of the Scottish Government, which the Lord Advocate considers to be outside legislative competence.”
He added that the case was, in effect, wasting court time, stating: "It is hard to see why this should be a matter of legal concern. Parliament is unlikely to have intended the time of the Scottish Parliament, or the resources of the Supreme Court on a Schedule 6 reference, to be taken up with matters which the Scottish Government’s own Law Officer considers to be outside competence.”
The UK submission also attacked the Lord Advocate's argument that a referendum would be consultative and not legally binding, and therefore have no legal effect, as a completely false premise.
Lord Stewart stated: "It is, of course, right that the outcome of the referendum provided for by the Draft Bill has no legal effect: it is not ‘self-executing’. But nor can it credibly be suggested that the outcome of the referendum will be ‘advisory’ in the sense of being treated as a matter of academic interest only.
"A referendum is not, and is not designed to be, an exercise in mere abstract opinion polling at considerable public expense. Were the outcome to favour independence, it would be used (and no doubt used by the SNP as the central plank) to seek to build momentum towards achieving that end: the termination of the Union and the secession of Scotland. It is in precisely that hope that the Draft Bill is being proposed."
The Westminster government has steadfastly refused to grant powers to hold a second referendum.
Sturgeon is testing the matter in legal terms to see if her majority in the Scottish parliament gives her the authority to go ahead with a vote without Westminster authority.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “People across Scotland want both their governments to be working together on the issues that matter to them and their families, not talking about another independence referendum.
“On the question of legislative competence, the UK Government ’s clear view remains that a Bill legislating for a referendum on independence would be outside the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.”
The case is set to be heard October 11 and 12 in the Supreme Court in London.
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