Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish Independence Plan Is Testing the Limits of British Democracy
The Scottish government says it wants a new independence referendum in 2023. But there’s every chance that politicians in London will refuse, leaving the Scottish National Party with a choice between helpless submission and risky defiance.
First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon heads to Parliament, June 30, 2022. (Ken Jack / Getty Images)
In 2014, the people of Scotland rejected the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) pitch to establish an independent Scottish state, separate and distinct from the ailing constitutional architecture of the United Kingdom, by a margin of 55 to 45 percent. For the past eight years, nationalist politicians have sought ways to reverse that decision — or rather, have it comprehensively reconsidered by the country’s electorate.
On Tuesday, June 28, SNP leader and Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon set out the latest phase of her party’s push for independence at Holyrood, Scotland’s devolved national legislature in Edinburgh.
If the UK government won’t consent to a fresh vote, Sturgeon said, then the British Supreme Court in London should rule on the extent of Holyrood’s authority. Either the Scottish Parliament has the power to stage a consultative referendum without the consent of English MPs at Westminster or it doesn’t.
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