The British Supreme Court began to study Tuesday morning the request of the Scottish government to organize a new independence referendum, without the agreement of London which estimates that such a vote can only take place once per generation.
The distribution of powers between the devolved parliament of Edinburgh and Westminster, where the United Kingdom sits, is at the heart of the hearings before the Court.
Opening the proceedings, Dorothy Bain, Scotland’s most senior lawyer and member of the Scottish Government, stressed that the issue of Scottish independence was “an important issue for Scottish electoral politics”.
“Whether such a ballot falls within the jurisdiction of the Scottish Parliament […] is a matter that I invite this court to settle definitively,” she said.
Despite the repeated refusal of the British government, the Scottish Prime Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who leads the independence party SNP, announced in June that she wanted to organize a new referendum on independence in 2023.
Anticipating a legal standoff with the government in London, she had taken the lead in seizing the Supreme Court to determine whether the Scottish Parliament had the power to legislate on the issue without the agreement of the British government.
If London “had the slightest respect for Scottish democracy, this passage before the court would not be necessary”, released Nicola Sturgeon Monday during the congress of his party.
“The issue has always been doomed to end up in court, sooner or later – and better sooner,” she added, repeating that if the Supreme Court rules in her favor, the “advisory” independence referendum will take place. on October 19, 2023.
“Should Scotland be an independent country? “, she wishes to ask the Scots who are, according to the polls, still very divided on the question.
Already consulted on the subject in 2014, they had voted 55% to remain within the United Kingdom.
But separatists believe Brexit is a game-changer, with 62% of Scots against it, and want Scotland to join the European Union as an independent state.
“De facto referendum”
Based on the first referendum, the former head of the British government Boris Johnson had swept the prospect of a new plebiscite, arguing that such a vote could only happen “once in a generation”.
The new British Prime Minister Liz Truss has been very firm, assuring that she “would not authorize” a referendum.
“I’m very clear that there shouldn’t be another referendum before the next generation,” she said.
Reacting to that hearing on Tuesday, a government spokesman said the people of Scotland would rather the UK and Scottish governments work together on issues that affect them than focus on a new referendum.
If the Supreme Court agrees with Mrs Sturgeon and authorizes the local government to organize a new ballot, the Scottish leader will have won her bet.
And in the event of a defeat in court, Ms Sturgeon has already warned that she will use the next legislative elections, scheduled for 2024, as a “de facto referendum”, campaigning only on the question of independence.
The SNP won the local elections in 2021 promising to hold a new referendum after the pandemic, arguing that “the right to self-determination is a fundamental and inalienable right”.
Edinburgh wants to be able to break away from the central government and create its own legislative framework for a referendum, but London opposes this, arguing that Scotland cannot decide unilaterally on a subject like that of the union of the Kingdom -United.
“The court is unlikely to rule in favor of the SNP, but those in favor (of keeping Scotland in the UK) should not see this as a final victory,” said Akash Paun of the Institute for Government.
Supreme Court justices are expected to issue their decision within six to eight weeks.
If it were to take place, such a referendum would however only be “advisory” and London would still have to give its agreement for the independence of the Scottish nation.