Scotland Publishes Draft Bill for a Second Independence Referendum

The Scottish Government has published draft legislation for a second referendum on independence from the United Kingdom, reviving a push that remains blocked by London’s refusal to grant the vote. First Minister John Swinney’s government released the draft Independence Referendum Bill on August 28. It cannot be introduced to the Scottish Parliament unless the UK government transfers the necessary powers.

The draft sets the referendum question as “Should Scotland be an independent country?”, the same wording put to voters in 2014. It defines who could take part, extending the vote to residents aged 16 and over and to qualifying foreign nationals, and it would fix a date only once introduced. The bill was a commitment in the government’s first hundred days.

The UK government alleges that the government cannot supply the authority to hold the vote. The UK Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that the Scottish Parliament cannot stage an independence referendum without Westminster’s consent, and successive UK governments have withheld it since the 2014 vote, in which Scots chose to remain in the United Kingdom by 55 percent to 45. Downing Street has said another referendum is off limits.

Swinney argued that the case has changed since 2014, pointing to Brexit, which Scotland voted against, and to living standards he said lag comparable nations. He noted that pro-independence members of the Scottish Parliament voted in record numbers in May to request the powers, and urged the UK government to respect that vote and hand the powers over. “Nobody will take better decisions about Scotland’s future than the people who live here,” he said.

For now the draft is a statement of intent rather than a scheduled vote. Without a transfer of powers from London, which shows no sign of coming, the bill cannot be introduced, and the standoff between Edinburgh and Westminster that has run since 2014 continues.