Why blocking indyref2 is doubly undemocratic

The UK is a strange thing. A UK-wide vote has decided to take us out of the European Union, a process known as Brexit

But there are many parliaments within the UK, reflecting its historical construct as a union of formerly independent countries.

As well as being subject to the UK parliament, Scotland also has its own parliament. This parliament doesn’t like Brexit, reflecting the fact that 62% of Scots voted against leaving the European Union. The Scottish Parliament is thus calling for a new independence referendum which, if won, will allow them to reverse the Brexit decision; that is, Scotland will leave the UK in order to remain in the EU.

There is a spanner in the works. The UK Tory government wants to wait a few years after the UK has left the EU before granting Scotland a new independence referendum. This is ostensibly to allow a long-enough time for us all to judge the effect Brexit has on the Scottish economy. Then, the Tories claim, Scotland can have its vote.

There are two problems with this. 

The first is that it is the Tory government that is deciding this, not the UK parliament. For Scotland’s first independence referendum, both the House of Commons and the House of Lords had to pass the Section 30 order that allowed the Scottish Government to run the 2014 referendum. Both Houses voted through the legislation (e.g. see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-21039886). Precedent has been set: another Order of Council agreement should be put before the UK parliament and voted on. It is illegitimate for the UK government to decide this by itself.

The second is that the Tories, by claiming that Scotland must wait a few years after Brexit to see the effect Brexit has on its economy before Scotland can have a new independence referendum, are admitting that they will allow Scotland to have a second EU referendum. Why should only Scotland have this privilege when Brexit was a UK-wide vote? Previously, the Tories have stated that there will not be any second EU referendum. So there is a contradiction here. If they are implicitly admitting that they will allow Scotland a second EU referendum, then they should allow all of the UK a second EU referendum. The rest of the UK has as much right as Scotland to revisit the Brexit decision if it proves to have been a decision that inflicts economic woe upon us all.

It is clear from these two points alone that the Tory government is acting undemocratically. When the Scottish Parliament votes for the new independence referendum, it should then be put to the UK parliament to vote on. Given that it is the will of the Scottish people, then both Houses should pass it as they did before. And given it is in reality at heart a second vote on EU membership, they can no longer deny the rest of the UK their second EU referendum either.

If this doesn’t happen, it will confirm just how strange a thing the UK is – which will, in itself and regardless of the EU issue, rightly lead to calls for another Scottish independence referendum.