Scottish First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Nicola Sturgeon. /
The High Court unanimously rules that the Scottish Parliament has no power to call a consultation without the consent of London
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has denied that the Scottish Parliament has the right to call a referendum, in a unanimous decision of the five judges of a court chaired by Scotsman John Reed. The court also rejects in its decision that Scotland can claim the right of self-determination articulated in international law.
The decision of the Supreme responds to the request of Dorothy Bain, Lord Advocate for the Scottish Government, for the court to clarify definitively if the Parliament of Edinburgh has the power to call a consultative referendum on independence. During the two days of the case, the terms of the law that, in 1998, regulated relations between London and the autonomous government were analyzed.
The judges recall that the autonomy law reserves a series of powers for London, including those related to the Union of the kingdoms of Scotland and England. Lord Reed stressed in reading the summary of the sentence that the fact that the referendum is only advisory does not prevent it from having “practical effects” related to the Union.
Quebec
Also unanimously the judges rejected the argument on self-determination, presented on behalf of the Scottish National Party (SNP), which the court allowed to appear at the trial as an affected party. The magistrates tell the SNP that it cannot rely on the famous ruling of the Federal Court of Canada on Quebec, because it also reserves the right of self-determination to colonized or oppressed populations.
The question is now being raised because Scotland’s Chief Minister Nicola Sturgeon has drafted a bill to call a referendum in October 2023, in which the public would be asked whether Scotland “should be an independent country”. Successive British governments have denied Sturgeon the transfer of powers to call a consultation, as happened in 2014.
Sturgeon is publishing documents outlining the institutional future of a Scotland separate from the United Kingdom. He has also promised that, in the event that the Supreme Court denies him the power to call the referendum, his party will go to the general elections scheduled for 2024 with the only electoral promise to call it, and thus reinforce its legitimacy.