Edinburgh MSP Ash Regan unveils Bill for referendum on Holyrood getting power to legislate for independence

Edinburgh Eastern MSP Ash Regan – who defected from the SNP to Alex Salmond’s Alba party in October – plans to put a Bill to the Scottish Parliament paving the way for a new referendum on the 10th anniversary of the 2014 independence vote.

The plan was unveiled at a St Andrew’s Day press conference where Ms Regan appeared alongside Mr Salmond to outline her intention to introduce legislation for a vote asking Scots if Holyrood's powers should be extended to legislate and negotiate independence.

Mr Salmond urged the Scottish Government to back Alba’s referendum Bill, claiming the SNP’s independence strategy had reached a “dead end” at the Supreme Court last year. He said: “People haven't proposed a way forward until now. They (the Scottish Government) are not going to do anything different from what they have been doing over the last nine years, which is to ask Westminster for a referendum. I think it's pretty clear that's not going to happen."

Edinburgh Eastern MSP Ash Regan with Alba leader Alex Salmond at a press conference to launch her Bill for a new referendum. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.

Ms Regan said Alba's proposals would break the political "stalemate" on independence. She said: "The Bill I'm proposing today has the capacity to bring the whole independence movement together, to break the constitutional logjam.”

And addressing a message to Humza Yousaf and the SNP, she continued: "If you support this Bill, we can guarantee that it is delivered. So instead of putting the immediate future of independence into the hands of Westminster, we can put it back into the hands of Scotland where it belongs."

Ms Regan said: "Last year's ill-fated expedition to the Supreme Court halted the opportunity to propose an independence referendum in the Scottish Parliament.

"However, there is nothing to stop our Parliament proposing a referendum, which we believe would be within competence, and that is to ask the people whether they believe the powers of the Parliament should be extended to include the right to legislate for and negotiate independence.

"That is what my proposed new draft Bill does and I intend to canvass public and parliamentary support for it now. It is time for the independence movement to offer our supporters a real prospect of progress."

Mr Salmond said Ms Regan’s switch to Alba was a breath of fresh air in the Sottish Parliament and he recalled his agreement with the then UK prime minister David Cameron which allowed the 2014 referendum to take place. He said: “This proposal can propel the independence movement forward and free it of its current inertia. More than ten years ago, this is exactly the sort of initiative I would have taken if David Cameron had refused a section 30 referendum. Indeed I had a draft with a similar question in an advanced stage of preparation - just in case.

“The way to assert the sovereignty of the Scottish people is to ask the people the question on whether their own parliament should have the powers to determine our future.”