Nicola Sturgeon demands Boris Johnson devolves indyref2 powers

In a letter, sent yesterday afternoon, the First Minister urged the Tory leader to engage with the Scottish Government’s proposals “in a considered and reasonable manner.”

Speaking to press on Thursday morning, Sturgeon said her mandate was “by any normal standard of democracy, unarguable.”

The First Minister last made a request for a Section 30 order in 2017 but it was knocked back by the then Prime Minister Theresa May, who said that it was “not the time” for another vote.

Sturgeon has long said she will ask Johnson for a Section 30 order before the end of the year.

But when asked about this during the general election campaign, the Prime Minister said he would return that request back unopened.

However, in a phone call between Johnson and Sturgeon last week, following the general election where the SNP won the majority of seats in Scotland and the Tories won the majority of seats in England and Wales, the Prime Minister agreed to engage constructively with any plans coming from the Scottish Government.

The government published those plans yesterday morning.

The Scotland’s Right To Choose document sets out the case for the transfer of power, and includes draft legislation calling for the power to hold another independence referendum to be devolved permanently.

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Speaking at Bute House, Sturgeon said that last week’s election result made it clear that Scotland “does not want a Tory Government led by Boris Johnson taking us out of the European Union.”

She added: “It is a fundamental democratic principle that decisions on Scotland’s constitutional future should rest with the people who live here.

“As this document lays out, the Scottish Government has a clear democratic mandate to offer people a choice on that future in an independence referendum, and the UK Government has a democratic duty to recognise that. Last week’s general election has only strengthened that mandate.

“We are therefore today calling for the UK Government to negotiate and agree the transfer of power that would put beyond doubt the Scottish Parliament’s right to legislate for a referendum on independence.

“Together with the constitutional and democratic case for that transfer of power, we are also publishing the draft legislation that would give effect to it.”

Sturgeon said it was not for her to spell out her “Plan B” if the Prime Minister said no.

She argued that last week voters had given her “Plan A” a ringing endorsement.

The SNP leader said: “It is for the Prime Minister to defend why he believes the UK is not a voluntary union of equal nations.

“It is for him to set out why he does not believe people in Scotland have the right to self-determination.

“And it is for the Prime Minister to explain why he believes it is acceptable to ignore election after election in Scotland and to override a democratic mandate stronger than the one he claims for his Brexit deal.

Sturgeon said she was expecting a “flat no” from the UK Government but that a vote was inevitable.

She said: “Everybody in Scotland knows, the dogs on the street know there’s going to be an independence referendum.

“Because you cannot stand in the way of the right of the Scottish people to choose their own future.

“I think the decision for the Tories is do they willingly and in a reasonable fashion ... accept that or do they seek to block that?

“Which frankly makes my job easier in convincing people that the right future for Scotland is to become independent.”

The First Minister was asked to rule out a future referendum if the Yes campaign were to lose a second one.

Sturgeon said that wasn’t in her gift: “I can’t say what future generations of Scottish Parliaments or future generations of the Scottish people might want to do, and no Prime Minister, and no First Minister can permanently end the right to self determination.”