We are now less than 7 days from what is known as the by-order roll hearing. This hearing is to establish the schedule and process moving forward where parties are unable to agree. It is also the point where things should become public in terms of the arguments made.
We are hoping this hearing will also be available for public consumption. With COVID 19, the courts are currently conducting many of the hearings by teleconferencing and by video conferencing.
As you are aware, there have been several developments in the last month, not least the First Ministers announcement of a draft bill to be laid before the Scottish Parliament.
If the Scottish National Party intends to stand for Holyrood in 2021 on the promise of a draft bill, then that bill must have a solid legal foundation, otherwise, it would be immediately challenged by the UK Government.
To state otherwise would be a non sequitur and risk a situation where the promise of a second referendum would be nothing more than a perfunctory promise without foundation, failing to take account of the fact (which is exactly what happened with the continuity bill) would...
...be a grievous error.
It could ultimately lead to a broken promise of epic proportions resulting in massive constitutional paralysis and years of court battles to establish the legitimacy of the bill after the fact, exactly the scenario we have been warning about for the past year.
The constitutionality of the Scottish Parliament being able to legislate for a second referendum must be elucidated before any bill is put before parliament. This is exactly the scenario we foresaw and the scenario that this case is designed to avoid.
We have been in constant communication with the Advocate General and the Lord Advocate on exactly this point, mentioning specifically, that the SNP’s promise of that bill and the current circumstances completely eradicates any argument of this action ...
...being premature, hypothetical or academic. From those communications, we have been able to ascertain that the Scottish Government is anticipated to lay that draft bill before parliament in March 2021, immediately before the 2021 Election.
As political observers, we believe that there is strong anecdotal evidence that the bill already exists in some form and there appears to be an attempt to obfuscate its existence.
As the bill is directly relevant to our case and the matters under discussion, we have called upon them to provide it.
Yesterday, I gave the go-ahead to file a motion for the specification of those documents in the court of session which will be filed on Friday. A copy is above
Over the next week, there should be several different announcements as we move closer to the hearing and, as always, I shall keep you all up to date.
Sincerely
Martin Keatings
Convener
Forward as One
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