THE Scottish Government claims it has an “indisputable” mandate to hold another referendum next year. The Lady Nicola drapes herself in the saltire and claims anybody who opposes her mandate is not a democrat. Surprise, surprise the finger is pointed at those nasty people at Westminster again.

This is all absolute nonsense for three key reasons.

First, it ignores the way in which democratic practice in the UK has evolved. Broadly, we have a parliamentary system where our elected representatives govern on the basis of a manifesto which they put before us, the voters. If we elect them they have a mandate to proceed on the basis of what they put forward.

The inconvenient truth for the SNP, however, is that it is also practice on important constitutional matters for the normal parliamentary representative system to be over-ridden by a direct referendum if there is a specific and key constitutional issue, with the outcome of the referendum being respected by Parliament.

This is as it should be. Manifestos are a collection of promises to garner votes. They typically contain not just tens but hundreds of promises. I had a look at the SNP Holyrood 2021 election manifesto just to check – there are 76 pages of it and there are sometimes 30 promises on a page – including the free bikes we never got. It’s a vast list with something for everyone. Voters take a broad view of a package. To claim that every voter who voted SNP wanted every promise to be followed through on is patently absurd.

We have in the last 50 years had two pairs of referenda on two key constitutional matters. In 1975 and 2016 we voted on EU membership and in 1979 and 2014 we voted on Scotland’s position within the UK. These votes either created a settled position which was respected for at least 35 years or signalled the public’s wish for a decisive change which Parliament acted upon.

The precedents are there for all to see. On important constitutional matters a referendum trumps election results and does so for a generation. If the SNP respect democracy they should respect that. The person who is anti-democratic is not Boris Johnson it is Nicola Sturgeon.

The second reason why the SNP Government does not have the mandate it claims for another referendum is its distortion of what real democracy actually means.

Democracy does not mean the dictatorship of those who can muster 50 per cent plus one of the members in a Parliament. That is a recipe for disastrous division. On routine matters a simple majority may suffice but on important matters such as the constitution a greater weight of consent is required.

Around the world, two thirds or greater majorities are frequently required to effect constitutional change. In the United States, two thirds of both houses of Congress must propose a change which must then be ratified by three-quarters of the states in the Union. Requiring a decisive majority to change constitutional matters is the norm not the exception.

In the 2021 election, the SNP got 44% of the votes cast on a turnout of 63%. Under 30 per cent of the Scottish electorate therefore voted for the SNP. Is that an indisputable mandate for another referendum on the constitution? It is plainly not.

The third reason the SNP Government does not have a mandate to hold another referendum on taking Scotland out of the UK is competence.

Competence is not to be confused here with incompetence, the SNP Government are masters of the latter – ferries, airports, transport, education, healthcare, youth suicide rates, drug and alcohol abuse rates, social care – their incompetence is there for all to see.

Competence in this case is whether it is their job to obsess over Scotland’s constitutional future – and it isn’t. The Scottish Government is an SNP invention, it used to be called the Scottish Executive and that was a more appropriate name. Whatever it might wish, it is not the task of the Scottish administration to act like a mini-government.

The layers within our country’s governance arrangements each have specific areas of competence. We do not expect regional councils to order aircraft carriers – we want them to collect rubbish and deal with other local matters.

In the same way the efforts of those who command a majority in the Scottish Parliament should not be focused on the constitution – it is not their job – their job is running our hospitals and schools well, maintaining our infrastructure and generally being an effective administration; they do this badly.

The SNP have no mandate whatsoever to hold another referendum on Scotland’s position within the UK. If they respect democracy and the rule of law they should accept that.

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