Why SNP's new independence referendum bill might be more exciting than you think it is (unless you check)
The SNP’s independence referendum bill is perhaps not quite as radical as it could be, theoretically at least
Hurray! Just what we all needed. The SNP have... drumroll... dramatic pause... published a new Scottish Parliament bill about holding an independence referendum! “Yawn,” we hear you say (no, actually that was the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ official response).
But what do you mean you’re not going to bother reading about it because it’ll not lead to anything? What if they’ve shaken things up?
All registered voters over the age of six and foreign nationals in other countries to be eligible to vote? The question to be, “should Scotland not remain in the Union? Yes or no?” – with SNP officials to interpret the answers’ meanings following the vote?
According to John Swinney, “Scotland is ready. The Scottish people are ready.” Ready for what exactly? Well, it’s hardly independence given polls persistently show we’re pretty much split down the middle on the subject. A divisive referendum that sucks the political energy out of every other pressing issue? We doubt it.
“I will have more to say about Scotland’s constitutional future in the coming weeks,” the First Minister added. Aye, weeks, months, years, millennia, aeons, epochs...
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