The Referendum on Separation for Scotland

Download or read book The Referendum on Separation for Scotland written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Scottish Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scotland can only separate from the UK if the Scottish people make that decision in a referendum. The Committee says any such referendum must have an unchallengeable legal and moral basis, to avoid delays and challenges to the legitimacy of the process and its result. The Scottish Parliament can legislate only on devolved matters, and the Union between Scotland and England is a reserved matter. The Scottish Government has argued that Holyrood is legally competent to set up a referendum but the Committee can find no evidence for this and the Scottish Government has provided no legal justification for this view. Any attempt to conduct a referendum on a dubious legal basis would inevitably be challenged in the courts and could take years to be resolved. No-one should be allowed to use legal wrangles to put off a referendum even longer than is currently planned. The Committee says the best way to ensure a sound legal basis for the referendum is for the UK and Scottish Governments and Parliaments to agree the specific detail of an order under section 30 of the Scotland Act 1998 to give the Scottish Parliament power to conduct a referendum. The Committee further believes that any Section 30 order proposed by the Government should be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by the Scottish Affairs Committee and to approval by all of Scotland's MPs before being proceeded with. However, this should not be used to allow those who anticipate being defeated to stall or derail the process