A SCOTLAND office minister has refused to say if the UK Government will honour the Supreme Court judgment if it rules in favor of indyref2 and claimed the SNP would need a Holyrood majority to hold a ballot instead.
John Lamont, Tory MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh, and Selkirk, refused to “speculate” on the outcome of the constitutional court case due to be handed down by Supreme Court Justices on Wednesday morning.
Lamont, who was made a parliamentary under secretary in the Scotland Office last month, said that the people of Scotland want both the UK and Scottish Governments “focused on the cost of living crisis” and claimed the referendum debate is a “distraction”.
The Scots Tory MP was grilled by the BBC's Martin Geissler on whether the UK Government would accept the Supreme Court's ruling if it allowed Holyrood to hold a second independence referendum without Westminster's permission.
Geissler said: “Will your Government recognise that ruling? It's the rule of law?”
Lamont again said he wouldn’t speculate, and Geissler added: “So you’re not saying yes?”
The Tory MP continued: “What I would remind you of Martin was what happened in 2011 in circumstances responding to the last referendum, it was an SNP majority in a Scottish Parliament election, which Nicola Sturgeon has failed to do [in] two subsequent Scottish Parliament elections.”
In 2011, then first minister Alex Salmond returned 69 SNP MSPs, which opened negotiations with then Tory PM David Cameron, who would later grant a Section 30 order which allowed the independence referendum to take place in 2014.
In the 2021 Holyrood elections, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon returned 64 SNP MSPs, but with the Scottish Greens also returning seven, the parliament currently has a pro-independence majority of 71.
Lamont continued: “It was also both governments, UK Government and the Scottish Government, reaching a consensus as to how that referendum would be delivered.
“That's a very clear model as to how it was delivered previously, and I would suggest the SNP should focus on precedent like that, rather than constantly discussing the opportunities and other aspects of referendums which most people in Scotland don't want them to be doing.”
Stewart MacDonald, SNP MP, refuted Lamont's comments and said the SNP already has a mandate.
He said: "The mandate exists. It was given by the Scottish electorate in the last Holyrood election when they elected a majority of MSPs who stood on a manifesto for a referendum.
"I’m not sure why John Lamont - barely in the job 20 minutes - thinks he can rewrite that fact."
We previously told how Scotland Secretary Alister Jack denied plans to change the law to “'gerrymander” an independence referendum poll.
In September, reports emerged that UK ministers were considering legislating that more than half of Scotland’s electorate would have to vote Yes for the result to be accepted.
Jack later denied the reports, saying: “We don’t see any need to make any adjustments around the rules of referenda at all because, as I say, we’re focused on delivering for people, not having constitutional upheaval through a referendum campaign.”
The Dumfries and Galloway MP said last year that the UK Government would only allow indyref2 to take place if polling consistently shows 60% of Scots support having one.
Rallies following the Supreme Court judgment are due to be held across Scotland as Yes activists brace for the results, you can read the full details here.
