Second Scottish Independence Referendum

Referendums on Devolution

A proposal for devolution was put forward for a referendum in 1979, but the powers between London and Edinburgh were not redistributed. The majority spoke in favor of devolution; nevertheless, the proportion of people who supported the proposal was not large enough ^[2] . The member of Parliament from the Labor Party managed to achieve the approval of a clause according to which the consent of 40% of the entire electorate is sufficient for a decision ^[2] . In the future (1979-1997), reforms of constitutional significance were not carried out. Shortly after the return of the British Social Democrats to power, a new referendum was held ^[3] . This time, the electorate’s desire was expressed quite convincingly, voters supported the creation of a local parliament and its ability to regulate the basic income tax rate ^[3] .

2014 referendum

On October 15, 2012, British Prime Minister David Cameron and the first Minister for the Scottish Regional Government Alex Salmond signed an agreement defining the procedure for holding a referendum on Scottish independence in the fall of 2014 ^{[4] [5]} .

According to the results of all 32 Scottish regions that participated in the referendum, about 55% of voters said “No” independence, 45% said “For”. Supporters of independence won in four out of 32 districts ^[6] .

UK EU Referendum

A referendum on UK membership in the EU was held in the UK and Gibraltar on June 23, 2016.

The results of the referendum:

• 51.9% of voters expressed their desire to leave the EU.
• 48.1% of voters wanted to remain part of the European Union.

The Scots and the inhabitants of Northern Ireland as a whole expressed their desire to remain in the EU, but the Welsh and the British, not counting London, voted for an exit. It is in connection with this distribution of expression of will that the discussion of the second referendum on independence began ^[7] . The first Minister of Scotland and the leader of the Scottish National Party, Nicola Sturgeon, announced the possible dates: 2018 or 2019. Prime Minister Theresa May and the Government of the Kingdom strongly criticized the idea. Consensus was reached when Nicola Sturgeon announced that issues would be discussed after the UK exit from the EU ^[1] .

Referendum Bill

On May 29, 2019, the Scottish Government published a bill to hold a second referendum on independence from the UK ^{[8] [9] [10]} . According to this document, the second referendum on the withdrawal of Scotland from the UK can be held until 2021.

In accordance with the law on the referendum of 2010 , the following categories of persons have the right to participate in the referendum ^[11] :

• UK citizens residing in Scotland ;
• Commonwealth citizens residing in Scotland;
• EU citizens residing in Scotland;
• members of the House of Lords residing in Scotland;
• United Kingdom members registered as voters in Scotland;
• British Government employees registered as voters in Scotland.

Also, the ShNP proposed to reduce the age-related qualification from 18 to 16 years ^{[11] [12]} . In January 2012, a member of the Scottish Parliament from Labor, Elaine Murray, proposed to discuss the issue of granting suffrage to Scots who live outside the country ^[13] . The Scottish government rejected the initiative, as the complexity of the referendum increases. In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers cited the position of the UN Human Rights Committee , according to which a referendum is not held at the request of residents, this will be called into question by other states. In the House of Lords, Baroness Simons voiced the idea of ​​granting suffrage to all citizens of the United Kingdom, since the voting results will affect the whole country as a whole ^[13] . This proposal was rejected by the Kingdom Government. At the same time, Lord Wallace noted that only 2 out of 11 referenda that had been held in the state since 1973 assumed the participation of citizens from all parts of the country ^[13] .