Top British Judges Reject Scotland’s New Independence Bid

The Supreme Court rules that the Scottish government cannot hold a second referendum.

Nationalist leader Nicola Sturgeon’s plan for a vote next year was thwarted by the UK’s highest court’s rejection of the Scottish government’s bid to bypass Westminster and call a second independence referendum.

Scotland’s top legal adviser asked the Supreme Court to determine whether the Scottish Parliament had the authority to unilaterally legislate for a consultative referendum. The London-based court ruled unanimously that a referendum would require government approval, as it did in 2014 when Scotland held a previous referendum.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will be relieved by the decision as he attempts to restore investor confidence in the United Kingdom. Sunak, like his predecessors, has stated that he would not permit another referendum on Scotland’s three-hundred-year-old union with England and Wales. Sturgeon asserts that her country has a democratic right to independence after Scotland voted against Brexit and her Scottish National Party continued to win elections.

In spite of the Supreme Court’s ruling, the semi-autonomous Scottish government will likely pursue a vote via alternative means. Sturgeon has vowed to make the upcoming 2024 UK general election a de facto referendum on independence.

It is a gamble for Sturgeon, who has been under pressure from factions of her party eager to force the issue of a referendum on Scotland’s separation from the rest of the United Kingdom. She became SNP leader and first minister of Scotland in 2014, following the last independence referendum in which Scots voted 55% to 45% to remain within the United Kingdom.