NICOLA Sturgeon intends to hold a consultative Scottish independence referendum on October 19, 2023 – and has already taken steps to confirm the legality of such a vote.
Speaking in a major announcement at Holyrood, the First Minister said that to achieve “legal clarity” over the Scottish Government’s plans, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, the Scottish Government’s most senior law officer, had agreed to refer the matter to the UK Supreme Court.
Sturgeon said this process was under way “as I speak”, explaining that this “will be filed with the Supreme Court this afternoon”.
Sturgeon went on to say that if there was no lawful way for the Scottish Government to hold a referendum, and if Westminster still refused to grant permission for such a vote, she would fight the next UK general election on the single issue of independence.
Overall, the FM said the processes she had set out aimed to bring “clarity and certainty to this debate” so that people in Scotland could have their “say on independence”.
But she added if this was not possible the next General Election “will be a de facto referendum”.
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