Nicola Sturgeon makes formal request to PM for second referendum
Last updated 19th Dec 2019
Nicola Sturgeon has formally written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling for a Section 30 order to be granted.
The First Minister insists there is a "democratic mandate" for Scots to be given a second independence referendum following the SNP's success in last week's election, where they took 48 of the 59 Scottish seats in Westminster.
Speaking at Bute House, Ms Sturgeon said: "The alternative is a future that we have rejected being imposed upon us.
"Scotland made it very clear last week it does not want a Tory government led by Boris Johnson taking us out of the European Union.
"That is the future we face if we do not have the opportunity to consider the alternative of independence."
The Scottish Conservatives say that Ms Sturgeon is trying to “bend the rules” by forcing through a second referendum.
Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw said: “Nicola Sturgeon hasn’t said anything new here, and the fundamentals remain the same.
“Scotland voted No in 2014, and both sides agreed that would be a once-in-a-generation decision come what may.
“Ever since then Nicola Sturgeon has tried to bend the rules, and this latest stunt is another example of that.
“Now, more than ever, Scotland needs a government that cares about public services, jobs and the economy.
“Instead, it’s got an SNP First Minister who’s only serious about breaking up the country.
“Nicola Sturgeon has made it clear again if she doesn’t win indyref2, it’ll be straight onto indyref3 and indyref4.
“She wants to trap Scotland in a neverendum when most people simply want to move on.”
The Prime Minister has repeatedly made clear his opposition to Scotland having a second independence referendum.
Ms Sturgeon said: "The mandate we have, to offer the Scottish people a choice over their future, is by any normal standard of democracy, unarguable.
"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."
Powers to hold a referendum are currently reserved to Westminster, therefore a Section 30 order is required if an independence ballot is to be held in Scotland.
If granted, powers are temporarily transferred from Westminster to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, allowing a referendum to be held.
The order is set out under the Scotland Act 1998, which just over two decades ago allowed for a Scottish Government of ministers and a Scottish Parliament to first come into force.
In October 2012, a request for a Section 30 order was granted after a deal was reached between then-First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond and the Prime Minister at the time, David Cameron.
That came after the SNP won an unprecedented overall majority in the Scottish Parliament in 2011 and it paved the way for the holding of a Scottish independence referendum in 2014.
Months of talks between the Scottish and UK Governments resulted in the Edinburgh Agreement - the deal that allowed the historic ballot to take place.
Another Section 30 request was made by Ms Sturgeon in her role as First Minister in 2017 but it was rejected by Theresa May, who said that it was "not the time" for another referendum.
In the run-up to the December general election, Ms Sturgeon made it clear she would request a Section 30 order by the end of 2019, with the First Minister already having outlined plans to hold a second vote on Scottish independence in the latter part of next year.
Ms Sturgeon 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."
The Tories, whose campaign had focused on opposition to an independence referendum, lost more than half their seats in Scotland.
Ms Sturgeon said she was "publishing the constitutional and democratic case" for a referendum.
She conceded she expected the response from Westminster would be a "restatement of the UK Government's opposition".
But she continued: "They should be under no illusion that this will be an end of the matter.
"In this context, the question is often posed to me - 'what will you do if the Prime Minister says no?'
"But the document we are publishing today turns the question on its head.
"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 over-ride a democratic mandate stronger than the one he claims for his Brexit deal.
"We live in a democracy, and ultimately democracy must and will prevail."
After Scotland rejected leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, she said the last three-and-a-half years "has raised questions about our voice and our democracy and about our future".
The First Minister added: "As a nation our future - whatever we choose that to be - must be in the hands of the people who live here.
"We can choose to stay part of the Westminster union or we can choose, as I would, to be independent. But the choice must be ours.
"Today I am publishing the constitutional and democratic case for Scotland having that choice."