> Lawyers have cleared SP ministers to begin paving the way for a second independence referendum, The Times understands.
> The Scottish government will be forced to disclose legal advice about another constitutional vote after a ruling by the information commissioner. It is likely that the documents will still be heavily redacted but one area expected to be made public is the work by civil servants on the prospectus for an independent Scotland.
>
> It is thought that, because those preparations have not been paused following advice to ministers, the green light has been given by their legal advisers. Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed that civil servants are working on a renewed prospectus for independence.
>
> The first minister has said she wants a second independence referendum to take place by the end of next year but powers over the constitution are reserved to Westminster, and the UK government has said another vote should not be held in the near future.
>
> It emerged last week that 15 officials, costing up to £900,000, are part of the project and that Sturgeon and some of her most senior ministers held meetings about the plans during a surge of Covid-19 cases in Scotland.
>
> A Scottish government spokesman confirmed that work was still under way, adding: “It is the role of the civil service to support the elected government of the day in developing and im- plementing its policies.”
>
> In a ruling published yesterday, Daren Fitzhenry, the Scottish information commissioner, said the Scottish government disclosing some of its advice about a potential second referendum would “significantly enhance public debate on this issue”.
>
> He said ministers’ decision to release legal advice they received around the Alex Salmond case had already affected the convention that such advice to ministers remained private. It followed a freedom of information request from The Scotsman, which asked for any legal advice provided to ministers on the topic of a second independence referendum in 2020.
>
> The Scottish government refused, saying to do so would breach legal privilege. The decision alters the previous blanket ban over releasing such advice. The release of information will, however, continue to be considered on a case-by-case basis.
>
> In his decision, Fitzhenry said there were exceptions to the convention of not disclosing legal advice. “While the ministers have expressed concern that disclosure of legal advice in this case would have the effect of future legal advice being more circumspect or less effective, the commis- sioner acknowledges the point made by the applicant that the ministers’ own decision to dis- close legal advice relating to the Alex Salmond case has already created such an environment,” he said.
>
> The Scottish government plans to publish a bill which would allow Holyrood to schedule an- other independence vote, but opponents have questioned whether it has the legal power to do so. It is not clear if ministers have asked for advice specifically on Holyrood’s competence on such legislation. They will not propose the bill before next week’s council elections.
>
> Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, said the ruling was “a devastating rebuke to the unacceptable culture of secrecy at the top of the SNP government”
>
> The Scottish government has until June 10 to publish the advice ordered by Fitzhenry. An ap peal can be made to the Court of Session if ministers believe the commissioner has made a le- gal error, not to challenge the public interest decision, but that is unlikely.
I am going to pre-emptively ask people to read this carefully. This article is *not* about whether the SNP can hold a referendum unilaterally. It’s about whether they can tell the civil service to plan for a referendum.
The Times believes the legal advice says the SNP can instruct civil servants to do this (based on the fact the SNP did instruct civil servants to do so). The Times doesn’t comment on whether the legal advice says that referendum can be held without a section 30 order.
And third and fourth keep going till you get the result you want
Pandemic. War. Famine. What’s the SNP’s reply?. We want more nationalism and to join a European union that is falling apart and will put us in the back of the line b3hind Albania. Jesus christ Scots are turkeys voting for Xmas.
Time for another failed independence referendum.
I wonder who/what the SNP are going to blame next?
“It is thought that, because those preparations have not been paused following advice to ministers, the green light has been given by their legal advisers.”
The Times here has made an assumption and written a totally misleading headline. They believe this is the case, they’re reporting it as fact.
Get on with it then. If I was an SNP voter I would be getting very impatient by now. Does Sturgeon even want a referendum?
Looking forward to seeing the SNP ignore all the hard questions that people will have.
Good luck getting any tory govt to do another ref. The only way it’s happening is if there’s a lab/snp coalition. And you can bet the tories will use that fact to badger floating voters in England to vote tory instead of labour.
“It is thought that, because those preparations have not been paused following advice to ministers, the green light has been given by their legal advisers.”
​
So it hasn’t been confirmed or anything like that, the government are just ploughing on with something that may or may not happen… I mean there’s nothing new there governments waste money.
English people be like “Scotland definitely doesn’t want to leave us, and that’s why we’re going to ban its government from asking”.
A devolved administration will never be able to get above a reserved matter to the UK government, that’s just the plain fact.
Another once in a life time vote. In my life time. I feel so lucky.
I wonder what Scottish people think about their government spending money on this instead of something that will actually benefit the Scottish people.
14 comments
[Archive](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/snp-ministers-ordered-to-reveal-legal-advice-over-independence-vote-j77bcnw3b).
Kieran Andrews, Times
> Lawyers have cleared SP ministers to begin paving the way for a second independence referendum, The Times understands.
> The Scottish government will be forced to disclose legal advice about another constitutional vote after a ruling by the information commissioner. It is likely that the documents will still be heavily redacted but one area expected to be made public is the work by civil servants on the prospectus for an independent Scotland.
>
> It is thought that, because those preparations have not been paused following advice to ministers, the green light has been given by their legal advisers. Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed that civil servants are working on a renewed prospectus for independence.
>
> The first minister has said she wants a second independence referendum to take place by the end of next year but powers over the constitution are reserved to Westminster, and the UK government has said another vote should not be held in the near future.
>
> It emerged last week that 15 officials, costing up to £900,000, are part of the project and that Sturgeon and some of her most senior ministers held meetings about the plans during a surge of Covid-19 cases in Scotland.
>
> A Scottish government spokesman confirmed that work was still under way, adding: “It is the role of the civil service to support the elected government of the day in developing and im- plementing its policies.”
>
> In a ruling published yesterday, Daren Fitzhenry, the Scottish information commissioner, said the Scottish government disclosing some of its advice about a potential second referendum would “significantly enhance public debate on this issue”.
>
> He said ministers’ decision to release legal advice they received around the Alex Salmond case had already affected the convention that such advice to ministers remained private. It followed a freedom of information request from The Scotsman, which asked for any legal advice provided to ministers on the topic of a second independence referendum in 2020.
>
> The Scottish government refused, saying to do so would breach legal privilege. The decision alters the previous blanket ban over releasing such advice. The release of information will, however, continue to be considered on a case-by-case basis.
>
> In his decision, Fitzhenry said there were exceptions to the convention of not disclosing legal advice. “While the ministers have expressed concern that disclosure of legal advice in this case would have the effect of future legal advice being more circumspect or less effective, the commis- sioner acknowledges the point made by the applicant that the ministers’ own decision to dis- close legal advice relating to the Alex Salmond case has already created such an environment,” he said.
>
> The Scottish government plans to publish a bill which would allow Holyrood to schedule an- other independence vote, but opponents have questioned whether it has the legal power to do so. It is not clear if ministers have asked for advice specifically on Holyrood’s competence on such legislation. They will not propose the bill before next week’s council elections.
>
> Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, said the ruling was “a devastating rebuke to the unacceptable culture of secrecy at the top of the SNP government”
>
> The Scottish government has until June 10 to publish the advice ordered by Fitzhenry. An ap peal can be made to the Court of Session if ministers believe the commissioner has made a le- gal error, not to challenge the public interest decision, but that is unlikely.
I am going to pre-emptively ask people to read this carefully. This article is *not* about whether the SNP can hold a referendum unilaterally. It’s about whether they can tell the civil service to plan for a referendum.
The Times believes the legal advice says the SNP can instruct civil servants to do this (based on the fact the SNP did instruct civil servants to do so). The Times doesn’t comment on whether the legal advice says that referendum can be held without a section 30 order.
And third and fourth keep going till you get the result you want
Pandemic. War. Famine. What’s the SNP’s reply?. We want more nationalism and to join a European union that is falling apart and will put us in the back of the line b3hind Albania. Jesus christ Scots are turkeys voting for Xmas.
Time for another failed independence referendum.
I wonder who/what the SNP are going to blame next?
“It is thought that, because those preparations have not been paused following advice to ministers, the green light has been given by their legal advisers.”
The Times here has made an assumption and written a totally misleading headline. They believe this is the case, they’re reporting it as fact.
Get on with it then. If I was an SNP voter I would be getting very impatient by now. Does Sturgeon even want a referendum?
Looking forward to seeing the SNP ignore all the hard questions that people will have.
Good luck getting any tory govt to do another ref. The only way it’s happening is if there’s a lab/snp coalition. And you can bet the tories will use that fact to badger floating voters in England to vote tory instead of labour.
“It is thought that, because those preparations have not been paused following advice to ministers, the green light has been given by their legal advisers.”
​
So it hasn’t been confirmed or anything like that, the government are just ploughing on with something that may or may not happen… I mean there’s nothing new there governments waste money.
English people be like “Scotland definitely doesn’t want to leave us, and that’s why we’re going to ban its government from asking”.
A devolved administration will never be able to get above a reserved matter to the UK government, that’s just the plain fact.
Another once in a life time vote. In my life time. I feel so lucky.
I wonder what Scottish people think about their government spending money on this instead of something that will actually benefit the Scottish people.