Now Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP says court ruling against IndyRef2 will INCREASE support for separatism

Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP depute has claimed that a Supreme Court ruling that a new independence referendum could not legally be held next year will increase support for leaving the UK.

The Scottish First Minister has come under fire for pushing ahead with her independence campaign in the wake of this week’s Supreme Court ruling she must get Westminster’s approval before holding an independence vote. 

The party had hoped to hold a vote on the constitutional issue in 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.

Now her No2 Keith Brown has said the ruling ‘shattered forever the notion of the UK as a voluntary union of nations’, as he sent a warning to opposition politicians.

Mr Brown 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.’

But Scottish Conservative shadow constitution secretary Donald Cameron said: ‘These shrill comments just highlight how out of touch the SNP have become with the mood across Scotland.’

The Scottish First Minister has come under fire for pushing ahead with her independence campaign in the wake of this week’s Supreme Court ruling she must get Westminster’s approval before holding an independence vote.

Now her No2 Keith Brown has said the ruling ‘shattered forever the notion of the UK as a voluntary union of nations’, as he sent a warning to opposition politicians

‘Like Nicola Sturgeon, he is playing to the gallery of fringe Nationalists fixated only on independence.

‘The majority of Scots will be watching on with dismay. They never wanted a doomed Supreme Court case and they have no appetite for another divisive indyref campaign on the SNP’s timetable.

‘They recognise this is the wrong priority at the worst possible time. Instead, they want the SNP Government to focus on what matters to them – the global cost-of-living crisis, a wave of public-sector strikes and a Scottish NHS on its knees.’

Last week the Supreme Court but the brakes on the independence drive. Scotland’s top law officer, the Lord Advocate, had asked the UK’s highest court to rule on whether Holyrood could legislate to trigger an independence referendum.

In 2014 the UK government granted a so-called ‘Section 30’ power to give the ballot legal force, but ministers have refused to authorise a re-run.

The judges rejected the Scottish government’s argument that a referendum would only be ‘advisory’ rather than automatically breaking up the Union.

And they concluded that issues of UK sovereignty were clearly ‘reserved’ to Westminster.

That being the case, the court held that Holyrood cannot pass a law to hold a referendum unless it has approval from the UK Parliament.