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Daily Record
Daily Record
Politics
Peter Davidson

Supreme Court independence ruling will take Yes movement to new heights, claims Keith Brown

The SNP's depute leader has claimed the Supreme Court ruling on independence will see the Yes movement reach "new heights" - not shut down the debate.

Keith Brown, who has served as the SNP's depute since 2018, said the ruling will only intensify the demand for independence.

Nicola Sturgeon's party hoped to hold a second vote on independence on 19 October 2023, however the court's judgment that the Scottish Parliament needs Westminster approval for a legal referendum has put the brakes on the date.

Brown added it "shattered forever the notion of the UK as a voluntary union of nations", as he sent a warning to opposition politicians.

He said: "It also laid bare the duplicity of the Westminster parties who are flagrantly breaching their own pledges to the people to respect Scottish democracy.

"But if those same parties think that this week has ended the debate on Scotland's future, they couldn't be more mistaken. It is a movement which will hit new heights by galvanising public opinion in every city, town, village and community the length and breadth of the country.

"The Tories, Labour and the Lib Dems are breaking the promise they signed in 2014 in which they said it was for the Scottish people to decide how Scotland should be governed.

"It is for those parties to justify to the people why they now believe they can so arrogantly renege on those pledges. They should stop running scared of democracy and of a referendum they so clearly fear they would lose. The SNP will never give up on democracy and we are more determined than ever that democracy must and will prevail."

Brown's comments come after former Green MSP Andy Wightman hit back at Sturgeon following her calls for a de facto referendum at the next general elections.

He tweeted: "I have never supported an indyref in 2023 and I don’t support one at all until there is sustained support for it (referendums should be about affirming popular opinion not taking a divided electorate marginally over the 50% threshold).

"I am thus genuinely shocked to be told by the First Minister of Scotland that I am (by implication) not part of 'Scotland’s democracy movement'. I have been arguing for better (especially local) democracy all my adult life."

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