A GROUP aiming to prove Holyrood can hold a new independence referendum without Westminster’s permission has raised more than 90% of its target funds.

Forward As One launched the People’s Action on Section 30 legal action late last year, and began fundraising when Boris Johnson rejected Nicola Sturgeon’s request for a transfer of powers to allow a new vote to go ahead.

The group has employed one of Scotland’s top lawyers, Elaine Motion, who represented 78 parliamentarians in their successful fight against Johnson’s decision to prorogue parliament last year.

At the end of January the UK Government Advocate General was issued with pre-litigation correspondence, and weeks later the Government replied to the group saying they don’t believe Holyrood can hold a new vote without Westminster’s consent.

READ MORE: Group aiming to prove indyref can be held without UK consent launches crowdfunder

Then in March a court summons was issued, but Forward As One says since then it has had to deal with several administrative motions.

Forward As One now aims to raise £155,000 for the next stage of their fight as they prepare for a legal debate.

Last night the crowdfunder, which has two weeks left to reach its target, hit the 90% mark after a strategic social media effort from supporters.

Organiser Martin J Keatings tweeted: “Last night, something quite unique happened.

“Within five minutes of the hashtag #PeoplesAS30 being used by the backers of this case, it was trending number two on Twitter for the whole of the UK.”

Forward As One had asked supporters to use the hashtag in a post or tweet at 8pm exactly – the plan was successful and resulted in the campaign trending on Twitter.

“It simultaneously knocked Steve Bannon’s arrest off of the number one spot and Michael Gove/George Galloway’s nonsense about changing the voting rules for a second referendum from what they were in 2014, right off the trending list,” Keatings said.

The organiser now believes the target can be achieved by Monday or Tuesday, and has asked supporters to continue posting about it to raise awareness and bring in that final 10% of funds.

Explaining the costs, Forward As One said: “As we said previously, we would approach the movement for further fundraising when it became necessary. By way of an estimate. Total costs are projected by the court in the ruling on the protected expenses order to be somewhere in the region of £195,000 in total. We deduct from that total, the sum of £40,000 from the previous fundraiser and we are left with £155,000.

“This is the target we are aiming for. To be clear, if we do not reach our target, legal action will have to be discontinued.”