The UK supreme court has ruled that the Scottish parliament does not have the power to unilaterally call a second referendum on Scottish independence. The judgment comes in response to a request from the lord advocate (the senior law officer of the Scottish government) for a decision on whether a second vote could go ahead, following the first referendum in 2014.
The Scottish government and Scottish parliament get their powers from the 1998 Scotland Act. In deciding the two main legal questions raised in this case, the UK supreme court was required to determine whether the powers extended to the Scottish parliament under this act included a power to legislate to hold a vote of this kind. It was not considering any wider questions relating to holding a potential independence referendum.
In particular, the supreme court had to decide whether legislating for such a referendum would be within the legal competence of the Scottish parliament, or whether this was a topic “reserved” for the UK parliament in Westminster.
