THE LORD Advocate and Holyrood's presiding officer have a duty to challenge the SNP's plans for an "illegal" referendum, according to Douglas Ross.
At a press conference this morning, Mr Ross told The Herald that he believes it would be the responsibility of Scotland's top law officer to block a wildcat poll.
Asked if the Scottish Conservatives or other MSPs may consider challenging any plans for a referendum by the SNP, the Scottish conservatives leader said: "I would expect it to be challenged, first of all, by the Lord Advocate.
"I would expect the Lord Advocate to look at what the Scottish Government would be proposing for a wildcat illegal referendum and tell the Scottish Government they can't do that.
"Then look at the Presiding Officer, who would presumably rule that this was outwith the competence of the Scottish Parliament."
READ MORE: Ross challenges Sturgeon to face-off over referendum plans this year
He continued: "These are the areas that the SNP know full well the moment but they want to threaten this wildcat referendum to promote even more uncertainty, at a time when we need certainty in Scotland, simply to appease the SNP members and separatists.
"That's why I think it's absolutely unacceptable, and should be absolutely disowned by the First Minister.
"But if she won't rule it out if she won't say reckless irresponsible actions are nothing to do with her then she's got to defend it.
"She's got to explain to people why she thinks an illegal referendum, going through the courts is the way to go."
It comes after the MP for Moray this morning challenged Nicola Sturgeon to a debate over the SNP's plans to hold another referendum as early as this year.
Mike Russell MSP and Scottish Government's Constitution Secretary, published an 11-point routemap to independence last month, while party depute leader Keith Brown MSP announced it was launching an independence task force.
Asked why he was challenging the First Minister to a debate now, as opposed to one closer to the Holyrood elections, Mr Ross explained: " The reason for calling for it now is because the SNP have renewed their threats for another independence referendum with this 11 point plan, with this task force being assembled so I can't allow their arguments for separation to go unchallenged.
READ MORE: Mike Russell: IndyRef2 'could be held by Christmas'
"Surely if you have a plan, if you have a belief, if you think separation is the right way to go in the middle of a global pandemic when the country is still trying to recover from this health emergency, and then the economic response, you should be willing to stand up at any point and defend your cause.
"And that's exactly what I will do, defend the case of the United Kingdom and Scotland's place within it, if Nicola Sturgeon is willing to defend her separatist plans right now in the middle of a pandemic."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel