London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 21, 2025

Scottish government to restart work on case for independence

Scottish government to restart work on case for independence

The Scottish government is to resume making the case for independence - with the goal of holding a referendum by the end of 2023.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said a vote would only be held "when the Covid crisis has passed".

But she said work would restart on a "detailed prospectus" so that voters can make a "fully informed" choice.

The Scottish government had previously paused work on its indyref2 plans because of Covid.

Ms Sturgeon was speaking to MSPs as she set out her plans for the year ahead at Holyrood - including work to establish a National Care Service, reforms to the Gender Recognition Act and tighter regulation of fireworks.

The opposition Conservatives urged her to focus on recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic rather than independence.

With Holyrood's summer recess over, Ms Sturgeon was addressing MSPs in the wake of the SNP's election victory in May and the party's power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens.

The two parties form a pro-independence majority at Holyrood, and Ms Sturgeon said the government's "democratic mandate" to hold a fresh referendum was "beyond question".

She said this would only happen "when the Covid crisis has passed", but added that she wanted it to be "before the end of 2023".

And she said civil servants would now resume work on a "detailed prospectus" for independence so that voters could make a "fully informed" choice.

The first minister has previously said she wants the agreement of the UK government to hold an independence referendum so that the result is put beyond any legal question.

However Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said he is not willing to agree to this in the immediacy, saying the focus should instead be on recovering from the pandemic.

The Scottish government has already published draft legislation for a new independence referendum.

And Ms Sturgeon set out plans for a range of other new bills in her speech to MSPs, saying her plans would "meet head on the key challenges Scotland faces".

These include work to establish a National Care Service, which Ms Sturgeon said should be up and running within five years.

She also confirmed that a Gender Recognition Reform Bill would be tabled to make it easier for trans people to change their legally recognised gender.

The issue has caused deep divisions within the SNP, with the first minister acknowledging that "some have sincerely held concerns about this legislation", but insisting that "it will make life easier for one of the most stigmatised minorities in our society".

The government will also consult on changes to the justice system, including potentially scrapping the "not proven" verdict and separating the dual roles of Scottish law officers.

Other proposals in the Programme for Government include:

*  Extra funding for frontline healthcare and mental health services;
*  A new system of "wraparound" childcare before and after school and during the holidays;
*  A collective pardon for miners convicted of various offences during strikes in the 1980s;
*  A fox control bill to strengthen the law on the use of dogs in hunts;
*  A new law for stronger regulation of the sale of fireworks;
*  Work to develop a minimum income guarantee;
*  A Good Food Nation Bill to promote the food and drink sectors.

Ms Sturgeon also nodded to her party's power-sharing deal with the Greens, telling MSPs that "tackling the climate emergency is a moral and economic imperative".

The Greens meanwhile claimed that the government's agenda was heavily influenced by their own policies, with co-leader Patrick Harvie saying they would "lead efforts to lower emissions".


What Nicola Sturgeon has not done is announce plans to legislate for a referendum at Holyrood.

Together with their power-sharing partners in the Greens, the SNP has a majority to pass the bill — although without UK government agreement it would probably face a legal challenge.

The first minister is not, at this stage, formally requesting from Boris Johnson the explicit power to hold a referendum, knowing he's likely to refuse.

Instead, she is restarting work by civil servants on the prospectus for independence. Work that was put on hold when coronavirus struck.

She will hope that will assuage her critics in the independence movement who don't think she's pushing hard enough for indyref2, with her party conference due this weekend.

It has also angered Conservatives and other supporters of the UK who think she is putting nationalist politics ahead of Covid recovery - a recovery the first minister insists remains her top priority.

The policy programme has been drawn up in conjunction with the Scottish Greens, who have joined the Scottish government

The Conservatives were critical of the plans, with leader Douglas Ross saying Ms Sturgeon's priorities were all wrong.

He said: "Another independence referendum is front and centre of the first minster's plans for the year ahead.

"Nicola Sturgeon is giving us a new white paper for independence instead of a plan for jobs, a plan to tackle drug deaths or a plan for NHS recovery."

Scottish Labour's Anas Sarwar said the government was "short on big ideas", saying: "This isn't good enough, it isn't bold enough and it won't do enough."

He added: "Barely a week goes by without someone from the government front bench declaring something mundane, rebadged or self-serving as historic.

"But the drier truth is that despite the SNP's rhetoric, the only historic thing today is levels of poverty in our streets, the numbers waiting for treatment in our hospitals and the depth of the economic crisis facing our country."

And Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said there was "little in the way of new hope" in the programme, saying there was merely "old hype, reheated and rebatched".


Nicola Sturgeon outlines plans for National Care Service



Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
×