SNP MP calls for Scottish independence bill to be drawn up this year with vote in 2022
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The SNP MP for Glasgow North West, said she would like to see a bill for a second independence referendum go through the Scottish Parliament this year. She told Times Radio: “I think we need to be drawing that up pretty quickly.
“Unfortunately, initially we need to approach Westminster in order to have that referendum first of all anyway, so we will wait and see.
“Boris Johnson has been quite clear that he’s not going to grant that, so then we need to look at do we need to go to the courts in order to seek some kind of permission to go ahead with the referendum.
“What we don’t want is a wildcat referendum, we want this to be legal and we want it to be a gold standard referendum.
“I would like to see this being drawn up by the end of the year and I would like to see a referendum taking place sometime in 2022, that’s my personal position but that’s the timescale I’d be looking for.”
It comes as Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it would be “absurd and completely outrageous” if the UK Government went to court to block a second independence referendum.
She stated: “For this to end up in court, which is not something I ever want to see, it would mean a Conservative government had refused to respect the democratic wishes of the Scottish people and the outcome of a democratic election and tried to go to the Supreme Court to overturn Scottish democracy.”
Ms Sturgeon told BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show that it was “up to the Scottish people” to decide the country’s future.
She added: “In this election they have voted overwhelmingly for the SNP and we stood on a manifesto commitment to firstly … continue to steer the country through the Covid pandemic.
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“But after the crisis to give the people of Scotland the opportunity to choose our own future in a referendum.
“The fact that we are sitting here having a debate about whether or not that outcome is going to be respected says a lot about the lack of respect for Scottish democracy that this UK Government has demonstrated for quite some time now.”
Asked whether Ms Sturgeon would be taken to court if a second referendum on Scottish independence was held, Michael Gove said: “We’re not going near there.”
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The Cabinet Office minister told BBC’s Andrew Marr: “The result of all of these elections was an instruction to politicians: thank you for the vaccination programme, the UK Government has delivered that across the whole country, now please concentrate on recovery.”
Mr Gove told the programme that “a majority of people who voted in the constituencies voted for parties that were opposed to a referendum” and Ms Sturgeon “didn’t secure a majority as Alex Salmond did in 2011. That is a significant difference”.
He added: “Alex Salmond, when he requested a referendum, every party in the Scottish Parliament agreed that it was appropriate to have a referendum given that he had secured a majority.
“It is not the case now – as we see – that the people of Scotland are agitating for a referendum.”
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