Manifesto for Independence: SSRG presentation
The following are my notes for the presentation on the Manifesto for Independence at the 2025 Scottish Sovereignty Research Group Conference in Carnegie Conference Centre, Dunfermline on Friday 16 May. Video of the event will follow if I can make it presentable in the edit.
PLEASE NOTE!
A dedicated Manifesto for Independence website has now been launched. Please be aware that for security reasons, the new petition replaces all earlier versions.
If you have signed a previous version, please sign again. Your signature will not be counted twice.
SSRG presentation notes
The Manifesto for Independence began life in 2020 when Geoff Bush and myself set up a Facebook Group called SNP Members for Independence. We wanted to put pressure on the SNP and other nominally pro-independence parties to make a stronger commitment to doing something about restoring Scotland's independence. So, we asked ourselves what kind of commitment this should be. What would a plan for restoring independence look like
Moreover, we wanted a plan that anybody in the independence movement could support. We set about stripping away as much extraneous stuff as we could so as to create an example of a plan entirely focused on the central constitutional issue. You won't find any mention of currency or central banks or industrial policy or any other kind of policy. Just the constitutional issue.
Geoff went off to work with a different group which started adding all the extraneous stuff back on in the eternal quest for the manifesto that pleases everyone and offends nobody. I persisted with the original project, trying to pare it down even more and also developing the thinking behind it. That's what I'm here to talk about today. So, I better get on with it.
Six bullet points
The Manifesto for Independence consists of only six bullet points. I've had people complain that it is too complicated. It's six bullet points!
The six bullet points outline a process which I call #ScottishUDI. This process starts from where we are right now and ends with independence restored. To date, it is the only such process to have been identified.
Where the original idea was merely to produce a kind of template which others could use when formulating their own plan, it quickly became apparent to me that there was no other plan. #ScottishUDI is the only thing that works. Others talk of this and that 'route to independence'. But all those routes either end up being #ScottishUDI, or they fail to reach the endpoint of independence.
All routes to independence converge on the issue of legislative competence. The British state does not deny our right of self-determination. What the British state does is obstruct our access to the means to exercise our right of self-determination. The main way in which it does this is by 'reserving' powers over the constitution. Powers which rightly belong with the Scottish Parliament, but which are being withheld.
I'll now run through the six bullet points of the Manifesto for Independence and limit myself to saying three things about each of them. Obviously, there is more to be said. I hope this will be addressed in the Q&A.
Repudiate the Section 30 process as an illegitimate constraint on Scotland’s right of self-determination.
It is necessary to repudiate the Section 30 process because it has been promoted so vigorously as the 'gold standard', and it definitely isn't that.
It is necessary to repudiate the Section 30 process just because it is wrong. If we adhere to the principle that the people of Scotland are sovereign, then there can be no effective veto on the democratically expressed will of the people. If we, the people do not recognise a higher authority, perhaps someone should ask our elected representatives why they do.
It is necessary to repudiate the Section 30 process in order to eliminate one of the bases for a potential legal challenge.
Declare one or all future Scottish Parliament elections to be a plebiscite on the question of the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament to facilitate the exercise of Scotland’s right of self- determination.
It has to be a plebiscite on the question of legislative competence because there cannot be a proper constitutional referendum until the required legislative competence has been restored to the Scottish Parliament.
A plebiscite requires that a binary element be introduced to the inherently non-binary election. This can be achieved by all pro-independence parties adopting the same Manifesto for Independence.
Making the plebiscite about the right of self-determination turns the constitutional issue into a human rights issue.
Assert the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament in matters relating to the constitution, on the basis of its democratic legitimacy and the sovereignty of Scotland’s people, citing the fact that this is the only way the people of Scotland can be enabled to exercise our human right of self-determination.
The only way we can have a proper constitutional referendum is if it is legislated for by the Scottish Parliament. The only way the Scottish Parliament can acquire the necessary legislative competence is by taking it.
Enabling the exercise of our right of self-determination is the proximate purpose of asserting legislative competence in all matters relating to the constitution - effectively 'de-reserving' the power - but this is in itself a de facto - as opposed to explicit - unilateral declaration of independence.
Obviously, having a public mandate for this would be very helpful. Hence, the plebiscite.
Recall Scotland’s Members of Parliament from Westminster to sit on a National Convention convened by the Scottish Parliament, with Members of the Scottish Parliament and such representatives of civic society as are deemed appropriate by the Scottish Parliament, for the purpose of overseeing the drafting of a provisional Constitution for Scotland.
In order to have democratic legitimacy, a National Convention must be convened by the Scottish Parliament. This can only be done after the Scottish Parliament has repossessed legislative competence in the area of the constitution.
In order to have legal standing, recalled MPs and others must be formally engaged by a body which has been established by the Scottish Parliament. Among other things, this allows that costs be met from public funds.
The foregoing does not prevent preparations being made beforehand for the formal convening of a National Convention. But it will be limited in what it can do prior to legislation being passed which formally establishes it.
Propose dissolution of the Union with England subject to approval by the Scottish Parliament and ratification by the people of Scotland in a confirmatory referendum that stands as the formal exercise by the people of Scotland of our inalienable right of self-determination.
A proposal to dissolve the Union and restore independence will take the form of a Bill to be debated and enacted by the Scottish Parliament.
The proposal will be as detailed as necessary without being overly prescriptive. It will, for example, include a barebones provisional constitution as well as the legislation authorising the constitutional referendum.
A short, plain language version of the proposal will be distributed and publicised in order that everyone understands what they are voting on.
Hold a referendum on the question of the Union under the auspices of the Scottish Parliament and subject to oversight and management by the National Convention and such bodies as may be appointed by the Scottish Parliament.
Criterial for a proper constitutional referendum were presented for discussion in an Appendix to the Stirling Directive. The summary states:
A true constitutional referendum is binary, with options which are discrete, defined and deliverable. It must be entirely made and managed in Scotland by Scotland's democratic institutions. It must produce a clear decision and not merely a result. The authorising and regulating legislation must be determinative and self-executing. It must meet internationally recognised standards for a democratic event. It is the formal exercise by the people of Scotland of our right of self-determination. The outcome is the expressed will of the sovereign people of Scotland which none may deny.The phrase 'determinative and self-executing' means that there is a defined consequence of a vote either way that will ensue directly and immediately from the result.
The franchise for the constitutional referendum will be determined by the Scottish Parliament with input from the National Convention.
This is a really great description of how things related to the dissolution of this God forsaken union need to be progressed. Good luck today Pete.
Peter, once again, I read one of your articles and think we have a measure of understanding, then it all dissolves before my eyes.
You say "all routes to independence converge on the issue of legislative competence," which I might well agree with if we had a common definition of "legislative competence." You use this phrase as if it were simple and self-evident, but it is not, Peter.
I would be happy to agree with you on this if we can mutually define what "legislative competence" means.
You approach this by reference to the constitutional position of the Scottish People as being sovereign in Scotland and therefore being the highest legal authority in Scotland. Now I would agree with you that this is a sound start, but it is only a start.
The Scottish Parliament is, as you know, a devolved institution of the Westminster Parliament and is subject to the Scotland Act. Now, you also know that there are many "reserved powers" in Schedule 5 of that Act which can render the actions of the Scottish Parliament "illegal" if they are in breach of that Act.
The so-called UK Supreme Court is, as you know, keen to point out the legal weakness of the Scottish parliament if it steps "over the line" in this regard.
However, the UKSC has no such authority over the Scottish People, who, as you correctly say, are sovereign and are not subject to the parliamentary sovereignty, which is an English Law concept and has no value in Scottish constitutional law.
Now, Peter, if the Scottish Parliament were to pass the RSS Petition and bring this UN Human Rights Covenant into Scottish Law, then the legal power to have referendums and other forms of Direct Democracy would be in the hands of the Scottish People. Now that would not change the Legal Power of the Scottish Parliament, which would remain a devolved parliament under Westminster control, However, it would have a dramatic effect on the Scottish People who could now have a powerful voice to express their sovereignty. The Scottish Parliament currently have the power to accept our petition and to put this power into the hands of the Scottish people. Surely, Peter, that is a direct route with full legislative competence, at the Scottish, UK, and international level. It that not exactly what we need?