Overview
- The 22-page paper, titled Your Right To Decide, asks the UK government to commit in advance to a referendum if the next Holyrood election returns a pro‑independence majority.
- The document cites the 2011–2014 precedent and the time elapsed since 2014 to argue for talks that would enable a lawful ballot, framing a pro‑independence parliamentary majority as sufficient even as Swinney pursues an outright SNP majority.
- At an Edinburgh event, the first minister called a fresh vote “more important, more urgent” and highlighted that about one million young Scots will be eligible to vote by 2030 who were too young in 2014.
- Downing Street reiterated that a second referendum is not a priority and pressed the Scottish Government to focus on public services, with Keir Starmer dismissing the strategy as distraction politics.
- Scottish Labour and Conservative figures attacked the push as neglecting NHS, education and the economy, while new academic analysis indicates voters split roughly into thirds on timing, with some unionists open to a future right to choose.