SNP want to decide timing of next referendum

The SNP has tabled an amendment to the Scotland Bill calling for Holyrood to be given control over any future referendum on independence.

Former first minister Alex Salmond and Westminster leader Angus Robertson are among six of the party’s MPs proposing the change to the legislation, which enters its final parliamentary stage with a House of Commons debate and vote today.

Last year’s vote on Scottish independence took place only after the signing of the Edinburgh Agreement between the UK and Scottish Governments.

The terms of the agreement temporarily gave the Scottish Parliament the power to hold a single-question referendum until the end of 2014.

Explanatory notes lodged with the SNP amendment state: “This new clause would permit the Scottish Parliament to decide whether and when to hold a referendum on Scottish independence.”

Scotland’s First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has said that a second vote on the issue would only be held when there is “strong and consistent” evidence that the majority of Scots want to leave the UK.

But she also warned that demand for another ballot could be “unstoppable” if Scotland was removed from the EU against its wishes in the forthcoming in/out referendum on membership.

Pete Wishart, the party’s shadow leader of the house and one of the six MPs behind the new amendment, told the Sunday Herald: “It’s in response to all the conversations going on about a second referendum, how that could be triggered and who has responsibility.

“This is a power that should rest with the Scottish people, that would be a matter for Scotland and the representatives of the Scottish people, not Westminster. That call should be made by Scotland.”

Last week the UK Government revealed more than 80 amendments it has tabled on the Bill, which is designed to implement the post- referendum Smith Commission on devolution.