Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham calling for talks on establishing a legal mechanism for a future independence referendum.
The intervention follows comments by Burnham at Prime Minister’s Questions, in which he appeared to accept that a referendum should be considered in Scotland if there is clear evidence that a majority of people would vote for independence.
Swinney welcomed the comments as a significant shift in the UK Government’s position and invited the Prime Minister to meet to discuss how the principle could be turned into an agreed legal process.
In his letter, Swinney compared the situation with Northern Ireland, where the Good Friday Agreement and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 provide a legal framework for a referendum on Irish unification if it appears likely that a majority would support it.
Swinney wrote: ‘Your acceptance of the fact that majority support for independence in Scotland also means that a referendum should take place is welcome.’
He said Burnham’s comments represented a reconsideration of previous statements that Scotland’s democratic right to choose its constitutional future was ‘off limits.’
Swinney argued that the UK should be regarded as a voluntary union in which the people of Scotland, rather than the UK Government, ultimately decide the country’s future.
He also pointed to the Scottish Parliament elections in May, claiming the SNP’s fifth consecutive term in government and the election of more pro-independence MSPs than at any previous point demonstrated the strength of support for independence.
The First Minister said the UK Government’s previous refusal to consider Scotland’s right to hold another referendum had become ‘unsustainable.’
He also welcomed Burnham’s suggestion that there should be a wider discussion about how power is distributed across the UK and Ireland.
Swinney is now calling for both sides of the constitutional debate to agree a clear process, arguing that an established mechanism would allow the issue to be addressed ‘constructively’ without repeated disputes over whether a referendum can take place.
‘Now that you have agreed the principle that Scotland should have a referendum when it is likely that people would vote for independence,’ he wrote, ‘it is important for us to meet to discuss how we turn that principle into an agreed legal mechanism.’
He concluded by saying he had instructed his office to begin arrangements for a meeting with the Prime Minister.
The letter comes as constitutional questions remain a central issue in Scottish politics, with the SNP continuing to campaign for independence while successive UK governments have resisted calls for another referendum.
Photo: Adam Wilson
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