The Scottish National Party (SNP) had pledged to hold a referendum as part of their programme following the 2007 elections when the Nationalists narrowly ousted the then-ruling Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition. It was thought their preferred date for the vote being November 30th – St Andrew’s Day. But now it seems the referendum has been put on hold as the minority SNP government in Holyrood cannot pass the necessary bill because the opposition parties made it very clear that they wanted to block the referendum bill.
Instead, Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister, has pledged to make independence a dominating feature of his campaign for a second term in office, stating the SNP would campaign on the issue at the Holyrood elections.
"I want Scotland to have the same responsibilities and opportunities as similar nations," he said. "Until we can use all the economic and financial levers available to every other government in the world, Scotland will always be at a competitive disadvantage."
"This government was elected with a popular mandate to put the question of Scotland's future to the vote in a referendum. It is time for the people of Scotland to have their say. Not everyone will agree with our vision for the future, we know that."
In response to this move, the opposition parties have naturally accused the Scottish government of "running scared" but the ball has already started rolling on the referendum since the draft Referendum Bill was published in February revealing details of the two questions it wants to see put to voters in a ballot.
The first question would ask if they backed increasing the Scottish Parliament's powers while the second would ask if they agreed Holyrood's powers should be extended to enable independence to be achieved.
But it not as simple as it sounds: firstly because the latest opinion polls put Scottish Labour 10 percentage points ahead of the SNP, suggesting the Nationalists could lose control at Holyrood next May after one term in office as a minority administration. Even if they managed to retain power, a 'Yes' vote would not trigger instant independence as the Scottish Parliament does not have the authority to declare Scotland an independent country – it would only mark the start of talks with the UK government.
To quell growing movements to independence, the government in Westminster has increasingly devolved powers to the Scottish Assembly over the course of recent years. Nowadays, matters such as education, health and prisons, which used to be dealt with by the Parliament at Westminster, are now decided on in Scotland.
