Nicola Sturgeon has warned it would be “absurd and completely outrageous” if the UK Government tried to block indyref2 through the courts.
The First Minister, fresh from her party’s victory at the Holyrood election, also said it would be “grave and serious” if Scotland had no path to independence.
The SNP secured a fourth term in office last week after winning 64 of the 129 seats at Holyrood.
Although Sturgeon’s party fell one short of outright victory, the election of SNP and Greens MSPs means there is a comfortable pro-independence majority.
Both parties have said they want a second referendum at some point in the next term, with Sturgeon arguing it should happen after the pandemic has passed.
However, the UK Government has insisted it will not be part of a joint agreement on a referendum, which may result in the Scottish Government organising a Holyrood-only referendum.
Such a move could be challenged in the courts.
In interviews yesterday, Tory Cabinet Minister Michael Gove appeared to suggest the UK government would not challenge a referendum in this way.
Sturgeon, in an interview with journalist Andrew Marr, responded:
“That’s what I heard him say, but, you know, I think it would be absurd and completely outrageous if it ever got to that point.”
“For this to end up in court, which is not something I ever want to see, it would mean that a Conservative Government had refused to respect the democratic wishes of the Scottish people and the outcome of a democratic election.”
Asked if she had taken legal advice on whether the Government could can win such a court case, she said:
“Anybody who knows anything about the legislative process in the Scottish Parliament knows that any Government has to consult its law officers before it brings forward legislation. That will all be part and parcel of what we know.”
She continued: “This whole debate is predicated on a situation where a UK Government refuses to accept Scottish democracy. And what that means is you have a UK Government that is saying that the UK is no longer a union based on consent, that it is no longer a voluntary union, that somehow Scotland is to be retained within that union by force of law.
“If the argument of the Unionist side is that Scotland is trapped, then it strikes me that that is one of the strongest arguments for independence.”
She added: “The UK Government knows that if we ever get into the situation where this is being determined in the courts, then actually what the UK Government is arguing is that there is no democratic route to independence, then they are in a very, very bad place.”
Asked what would happen in this situation, Sturgeon replied: “What would happen? “It would be such a grave and serious and undemocratic situation.”
