SNP announces plans for new bill on Scottish independence vote

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The SNP has announced new plans to introduce a bill to allow Scotland to decide on independence. The party is pushing for the Scottish Parliament to hold its own referendum to “unlock Westminster’s denial of democracy”.The plans will be announced today (Wednesday) and will seek to take over the House of Commons Order Paper on January 10 2023, presenting the SNP’s new Scotland Act 1998 (Amendment) Bill.

Its aim is to amend Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998, which details what Holyrood can and cannot legislate on, including “the Union of the Kingdoms of Scotland and England” and “the parliament of the United Kingdom”.The plans come almost a month after the Supreme Court ruled the Scottish Parliament could not hold a second independence referendum without Westminster approval.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn MP said: “We will use our Opposition Day to put forward the Scotland Act 1998 (Amendment) Bill and seek to take control of Parliament’s order paper to unlock Westminster’s denial of democracy.“The mechanism, which will seek to amend the Scotland Act 1998, will allow the Scottish Parliament to legislate for a referendum and reject any attempts by Westminster to impose a roadblock on Scotland’s democratic journey to independence.

The people of Scotland have already voted for a referendum and now is the time for one — that is a democratic reality that politicians at Westminster must wake up to.”Mr Flynn’s comments came as a new poll suggested Scottish voters backed independence over remaining in the UK but signalled warnings for the de facto referendum method.