Ian Blackford uses Brexit to call for independence referendum
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Nicola Sturgeon confirmed “preparatory work is underway” to enable a second referendum to be held – a commitment both the SNP and their Scottish Green Party partners in Government made in their manifestos for last year’s Holyrood elections. But Alba MP Neale Hanvey claimed the SNP leader needs to obtain a Section 30 order to get a second referendum. This order calls for a transfer of powers to Scottish Parliament for the SNP to hold a vote.
Speaking to Independence Live, Mr Hanvey said: “What the independence needs is not a date, it needs a strategy.
“That really in my view expands the work that we need to do well beyond this single objective of obtaining a Section 30 order and makes a much more engaging argument that pulls in all the potential strands that are necessary to advance the cause of independence.
“If we throw all of our hope into a section 30 order and ignore all of the other routes to independence and the routes necessary to progress them then we will probably find ourselves disappointed yet again in the coming months.
“Confidence is very low that the First Minister will obtain a section 30 order or that she wants to obtain a section 30 order.”
It comes as Ms Sturgeon has said her government is considering “carefully” whether legal advice regarding a second Scottish independence referendum can be made public.
However, with leading opposition politicians at Holyrood calling for the information to be put into the public domain, Ms Sturgeon stressed such a move could still risk breaching the ministerial code.
The calls for legal advice that Scottish Government ministers have received to be disclosed come in the wake of a recent ruling by information commissioner Daren Fitzhenry.
He said some information could be made public by June 10, though Scottish ministers could still appeal against this decision.
Nicola Sturgeon rattled over Scottish independence support
Ms Sturgeon though, was clear she believed publishing legal advice would be a breach of the ministerial code.
Speaking as she insisted Scots would vote for independence if a second vote on leaving the UK was to take place, the First Minister told BBC Radio Scotland that the code contains provisions to prevent “ministers like me discussing the content of legal advice”.
She told the interviewer: “If I was to do that today you would no doubt have me on tomorrow accusing me, in very legitimate journalistic terms I hasten to add, of breaching the ministerial code, so I’m not going to go into that.”
Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Donald Cameron MSP said: “The information commissioner has said clearly that the Scottish Government ought to publish the legal advice they have received on holding another divisive independence referendum.
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“But instead of accepting they were wrong to attempt to withhold this in the first place, Nicola Sturgeon is continuing to explore every avenue to prevent this coming out to avoid scrutiny.
“The First Minister is forever claiming that her government is open and transparent, while behaving in a way totally at odds with that laughable assertion.”
He also said that “the public has a right to know what legal justification there is for a team of senior civil servants being seconded to work on a referendum that the majority of Scots don’t want”.
Mr Cameron said: “It’s bad enough that the First Minister continues to obsess about the constitution, when she ought to be focused on the cost-of-living crisis, but her refusal to be up front about her plans is even more unacceptable.”
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