Scotland Publishes Independence Referendum Bill; No 10 Refuses
The Scottish government published its draft independence referendum bill — question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?” — delivering the SNP’s hundred-day pledge after May’s Holyrood win. John Swinney demanded Westminster “respect the voice of the Scottish people” and transfer the powers: “Scotland is ready. The Scottish people are ready.” Downing Street’s reply was flat: the prime minister has made clear another referendum “was off the table”.
Twice in two days the prime minister has taken a constitutional question “off the table” — a border poll on Wednesday in Belfast, a Scottish referendum today — and the symmetry is the story: a devolutionist leader discovering that pushing power outward stops precisely at the union’s load-bearing walls. Mr Swinney’s bill cannot proceed without a section 30 transfer the Supreme Court made mandatory in 2022, so the document is politics rather than law — but effective politics: it forces Labour to keep saying no to a parliament with a fresh mandate, and every refusal feeds the grievance the SNP’s autumn campaign needs. Tuesday’s programme for government will show how hard Mr Swinney intends to press. Watch whether “off the table” survives a sustained constitutional squeeze on two fronts.