READ MORE: Theresa May can’t have it both ways on devolution
The Section 30 order has been much misrepresented in the press. History has been rewritten by people who forget that some of us were paying attention to what was happening at the time. When Alex Salmond negotiated the Edinburgh Agreement with David Cameron in 2012 and Cameron agreed to the Section 30 order, it was presented in the British media as Cameron giving his permission for the referendum to go ahead.
That’s not what happened at all. The purpose of the Section 30 order was to ensure that the outcome of the referendum was legally binding on both sides. The reason Cameron consented to it was because Scotland was going to go ahead with a referendum anyway, and consenting to the Section 30 order allowed the British government to maintain the pretence that it was still in charge of events.
The First Minister needs to remind Theresa May that her permission is not required for Scotland to have an independence vote. Scotland is not coming to the Prime Minister to beg for her grace and favour. Nicola should remind her that there is more than one avenue open to Scotland to hold a vote without the cooperation of a Westminster government which has a vested interest in ensuring that there is no vote at all. Theresa May can tell us all she likes that now is not the time for her, but Scotland will decide when it’s the time for Scotland. The consent of Theresa’s stopped clock is not necessary and is not being sought.
There is nothing in what passes for a British constitution to prevent the Scottish Parliament from pressing ahead with a consultative referendum without the consent of Westminster. That’s what the EU referendum was, and once there’s a vote the result becomes a political imperative.
The problem however is that the British nationalists have been paying as much attention to Catalonia as we have, and they would most certainly boycott a referendum taking…
