BORIS Johnson is facing further calls from Unionist figures to ban Scottish Government civil servants from working on independence planning without explicit consent from the UK.
After Labour’s shadow Scotland secretary Ian Murray wrote to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case asking him to “reverse” Holyrood’s working towards an independence referendum, a Unionist journalist has made a similar call.
Stephen Daisley, a political commentator who appears in the Spectator and Mail, wrote on his Substack blog urging the UK Government to defeat the SNP by making their “entire purpose in politics near impossible to achieve”.
He suggested: “It's time to toss independence into a locked box and bury it six feet deep.”
A key part of the journalist’s plan involves either bringing forward a new Scotland Act, or an amendment to the existing one, reserving referendums, citizens assemblies and consultative ballot exercises on the constitution, or other reserved issues, to Westminster.
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“While they’re at it,” Daisley continues, “ministers should change the rules so that the Scottish Government can only instruct civil servants to carry out activities in connection with independence once the UK Parliament has legislated to permit a referendum on the matter”.
Effectively this would mean banning any work on Scottish independence until explicit permission is granted by Westminster. However, this should also never happen, according to the journalist, and Labour and the Tories should both then pledge to never agree to another vote on independence.
Daisley’s call to the Prime Minister came as Johnson visited Scotland, days after it emerged that the SNP and Greens are planning to put together a joint prospectus for independence before 2023 – when First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is hoping to hold the vote.
The First Minister’s preferred way to get to a referendum is with agreement from the UK Government via a Section 30 deal, but if that is rejected there could be a Holyrood-run poll. This would be likely to be challenged by the UK Government in the courts.
Both the Greens and SNP, who govern together on a co-operation deal, stood in 2021 on a manifesto pledging to hold the vote on Scotland’s future in this parliament.
Michael Russell, the SNP’s president, suggested that Daisley, Murray and other Unionist figures are “worried” about rising support for independence – which is sitting at around 50/50 with support for the Union in the latest polls.
“They will try and use any means to stop the people of Scotland choosing their own future even if this means destroy normal long-guaranteed basic democratic rights,” he told The National. “I would call that totalitarian, and some less polite words too.”
On Daisley’s suggestion in particular, Russell said it was unsurprising for a right-wing columnist to have controversial opinions – but added: “A moment’s thought would have made him realise that this opinion, if it became a fact, would fatally undermine the democratic process which has been established for generations - that is that an elected government has the right to implement its policies.
Michael Russell, former constitution secretary and current SNP president
“So if he means it then he is unfit to write about democratic policy. If he doesn’t it is just more extravagant and irrelevant attention seeking.”
Gillian Mackay, the Scottish Greens' MSP for Central Scotland, pointed out that it is only nine months since a majority of pro-independence MSPs were elected.
"Both the Scottish Greens and the SNP stated clearly in our manifestos that we would hold an independence referendum in this parliament. The Scottish Government has a clear democratic mandate and that mandate won’t simply vanish because pro-UK mouthpieces are panicking.
"It’s time we put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands," she told The National.
On social media, others criticised Daisley’s approach – with SNP staffer Rosa Zambonini suggesting the journalist wants to “get rid of democracy”, and others suggesting the call would only boost support for Scotland leaving the Union.
The Scottish Government defended itself against Daisley, saying: “It is the role of the civil service to support the elected government of the day in developing and implementing its policies.”
The First Minister intends to hold an independence referendum in 2023, and said last week that she will do “everything in her power” to make that happen.
“We will set out exactly what that means in terms of the date of the introduction of legislation when we’ve taken the detailed decisions around that,” the First Minister said on Scotland Tonight.
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