THERE should not be a second independence referendum even if the Supreme Court deems it legal, Liz Truss has said.

I suspect that Scotland will ignore her

I do see that Scotland may be entitled to another referendum as we have left the EU and mainly the population did not wish to.After that, how many referendums does a country need or is sensible though?

The value of a referendum is that it tests the opinion of the ordinary population. Decisions by the party currently in power may or may not reflect the true grassroots position, but rather what the vocal majority at Holyrood would like to happen.

Perhaps there should be a ruling on how long an interval should be imposed between such constitutional changes, like the one in NI ? There should certainly be a high bar to be crossed before a yes majority is counted as a definite decision that the whole country wants a massive change - unlike the Brexit shambles.

I imagine Truss's attitude will cause more rather than fewer Scots to campaign to disassociate Scotland from Westminster. She doesn't exactly make friends and influence people, does she?

I watched the BBC's news item last night re Conferring City Status on Dunfermline with KC & QCC present. The commentary was again (like much of the coverage of QE's death and funeral) like a political broadcast for the anti- Independence brigade. Now the King is supposed to be apolitical and as there is no intention to ditch the Royals i.e., the Union of the Crowns, as soon as independence is achieved, then any comments made by him which seem to support the Union, must be viewed as 'Political'.

I have written this, well aware that we get our information via the prism of the (almost exclusively Unionist) mainstream media, so may be given a biased, false interpretation of what was actually said.

Just this...

www.heraldscotland.com/politics/22483799.scottish-independence-record-level-support-annual-survey/

Can we just stop pretending that it's only Sturgeon and the nasty ruling party in Holyrood who want this? Ta.

Ach Granny23 Truss and Starmer both have the idea they will rebuild the "dis " united kingdom using the trillion pound bonus still under the North Sea.To do that they need to hang on to us by any means available .
Exactly the way the "uk" used all the colonies in the past ,hold onto them rob them and then tell anyone who they thinks will believe it that ,(add your own favourite) India was too poor andtoo stupid to run itself.All the while filling their pockets with 45 Trillion pounds of Indian wealth !
They've been doing it to us for over 3 centuries and sadly some "Scots" still believe the lies .This government will hopefully be the last WM government to rape and pillage our natural wealth .
England really needs to be able to afford all the stupid stuff it wants ...HS2 currently £100 billion, overbudget and way over its completion target ,Nuclear capability £250 Billion,not wanted by a majority of Scots and lets not forget the FLEET of ships sitting in a southern port with propeller issues...just like the Billion £ flagship 7 years late ....Dont hear all that on the BBC!!
They are too busy shouting about the ferry problem that was a fraction of any one of these

I think that people's views on this will depend on whether they think Scotland is a separate country with a sovereign government, or not.

We have elected a government with a manifesto promise to offer a referendum, if the Supreme Court say it would be legal to have one, then Ms Truss can scweam and scweam and scweam until she's sick, but we'll be having one.

If the Court says it wouldn't be legal, then any pretence that the Union is voluntary would be gone, and then we are entitled to take whatever action is required to enact what the Scottish people want. The Scottish people who, I remind you, in our last election, voted for parties (plural) who offered a referendum, to be in the majority in Holyrood.

Actually I think the people of Scotland are sovereign, not the government, but you know what I mean...

Ranil Jayawardena MP, Secretary of State for Environment and Rural Affairs, Any Questions Sep 30:

“That’s I guess is the principle here that’s at stake, that it’s up to people to decide their own nation, it’s up to people to decide whether they are an independent state or not”

We did.

And we will have another go Aveline. Cause that's what we voted for...

Really? When?

Aveline do you mean when did we vote for parties who had a promise of a referendum in their manifestos? April 2021 when 72 of the available 129 seats were won by parties whose manifestos included that offer.

Had you forgotten?

What percentage of the electorate voted for it exactly?

Enough to have more than half the available seats held by parties making that promise.

That's how it works.

You don't get to change the rules because you don't like how the election turned out. There's a word for that, begins with an "f".

Aveline

What percentage of the electorate voted for it exactly?

What percentage of the electorate voted against it exactly?

I think if the good citizens of Scotland would like to have another referendum, especially as they were dragged out of the EU against their collective will after voting to stay in the UK, then they should have one. This boil has been festering for long enough and needs to be lanced. One way or the other.

I actually agree Urmstongran. The SNP has made such an unholy mess of running things up here that it's time they were booted out. The only reason they are in is that the opposition is fragmented between Tories, Labour and LibDems. If only they'd work together for the benefit of everyone in Scotland and oust SNP things might start to improve.
A Westminster election right now would help a lot. A credible resurgent Labour would help to convince Scottish voters by giving them confidence in the UK.

The most recent Savanta polls has this for Westminster voting intention:

SNP ~ 46% (+1)
Lab ~ 30% (+5)
Con ~ 15% (-3)
LD ~ 8% (nc)

And Holyrood is as the picture.

Getting on for half the votes cast would be for the SNP, even after 14 (?) years in government in Scotland. While the other parties split the remaining half between them, in various proportions. It is obvious that the SNP offer in Scotland is far more effective than that of the other parties; half the voting population thinks that the SNP are offering them something that the others can't match. So as long as we have Dougie Ross flip-flopping like an idiot in what he thinks will keep his Westminster bosses happy, or Sir Keir saying that they will never partner with the SNP, while happily partnering with the Tories at council level, they are not going to come back to anything approaching power in Scotland.

If they want to oust the SNP, they're going to have to come up with something really impressive, and nothing they have at the moment even comes close.

I think if another referendum is held and the vote (again) is to reject independence then the SNP will be a sinking ship as voters - even those who wanted to leave the Union - will accept that democratically it’s a lost cause. It’s the only thing Sturgeon has to offer that’s so different to the other parties. Nationalists of all stripes therefore flock together under her banner and promises she makes.

Time to bring this to a head and decide finally, one way or the other.

The only way Westminster would oust the SNP and their plans for independence would be by magically becoming a great government themselves and wiping out the memory of the last 12 years and the perfectly natural wish of many Scots to completely disassociate themselves from their neighbours.

It aint gonna happen, is it?

Urmstongran

I think if another referendum is held and the vote (again) is to reject independence then the SNP will be a sinking ship as voters - even those who wanted to leave the Union - will accept that democratically it’s a lost cause. It’s the only thing Sturgeon has to offer that’s so different to the other parties. Nationalists of all stripes therefore flock together under her banner and promises she makes.

Time to bring this to a head and decide finally, one way or the other.

As there are so many voters in Scotland for whom independence is so important Urmstongran, how do you think they will vote in such a circumstance? Given that the other 3 main parties have come out against independence? Do you think we'll just give up?

Since there are so many English people living north of the Border and so many Scots living south of it (let alone those either side with Scots or English ancestry, or family living the other side), perhaps we should all, whether we live in England or Scotland, have the opportunity to vote in such a referendum. After all, the result will affect all of us.

I would imagine so volver if the result of another referendum is a resounding ‘no’. What do you think? Will referendums be regularly called for until you get the result you want?