The Scottish government has been urged to “clarify once and for all” whether it has the power to legislate for a second independence referendum in Holyrood.
A limited selection of legal advice was published on Tuesday after a long battle for freedom of information with the Scottish newspaper, but the key question is whether the SNP government has been warned to introduce a bill to to a second independence referendum is the competence of the The Scottish Parliament is not included in the disclosure.
Holyrood’s opposition parties condemned the “murky secret approach” after the limited publication was forced by a decision by the information commissioner, who declared that there was an “exceptional” public interest in revealing the council.
The two-page document shows that ministers were told they could work on policies to prepare for a second independence vote and try a question with the Electoral Commission.
The question of whether the SNP can legislate for a new referendum has bothered constitutional experts since the party published its roadmap to a second vote in January 2021, which states how, if Westminster continues to reject the transfer of powers required for a legal vote, Holyrood. will legislate to hold a referendum independently.
This would pose an almost inevitable legal challenge in resolving whether holding a referendum on union accounts is a reserved issue and therefore outside the jurisdiction of Holyrood, and likely to end up in the Supreme Court. But despite the information commissioner’s decision, it is still unclear what legal advice the Scottish government has received on the matter.
Scottish Labor spokeswoman Sarah Boyack praised “a rare victory for transparency”, but added: “This advice leaves the big questions unanswered.”
“Another referendum is the answer of the SNP to all questions under the sun, so the public should not be kept in the dark about the legality of it. The SNP has been dragging this circus long enough: they have to clean up once and for all, “he said.
“We can’t keep wasting time and energy caught up in a mess of constitutional fights and cover-ups when people are struggling to make ends meet and our utilities are on the verge of breaking.”
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The Scottish government argued that making the advice public would violate legal professional privilege, after the Scotsman sought any legal advice from ministers or provided him with public service on the subject of a second independence referendum, but the information commissioner accepted the public. interest was important enough to allay these concerns.
Scottish Information Commissioner Daren Fitzhenry argued that the Scottish Government’s decision to issue legal advice related to Alex Salmond’s judicial review, following significant inter-party pressure, also showed that there were exceptions when ‘I had to post this advice.
Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution Donald Cameron said: “The ambiguous secret approach must end.”