Nicola Sturgeon has called for Scotland to have a process to hold an independence referendum such Northern Ireland has to hold a border poll.
The former First Minster made the point in a wide ranging interview with the Institute for Government think tank. She spoke to the think tank on October 8 last year with her comments made public on Friday.
She said: "In Scotland – and it may have some relevance in Wales but it already exists in Northern Ireland – to establish a process for having a referendum. If we can get an agreement to go back down the Edinburgh Agreement route, then what are the circumstances that would have to exist for Westminster to agree a referendum?
"There is obviously that approach in terms of an Irish referendum. It may not be the case that it should be identical in Scotland or Wales, but there definitely needs to be a process that is founded on respect for democratic autonomy."
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Her comments were made when she was asked how the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer could reset relations with the Scottish Government.
Ms Sturgeon said a "meaningful" measure would be "getting Whitehall to properly understand devolved responsibility – not just in Scotland but in Wales and Northern Ireland too" and for the UK Government to stop using "obscure provisions of the Scotland Act".
Her last point may be a reference to the former Conservative government using a Section 35 order of the Scotland Act to block the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Act, passed at Holyrood, from becoming law.
The legislation was passed in the Scottish Parliament in December 2022 but it was stopped from becoming law by the UK Government which used a provision in the Scotland Act for the first time which meant the Presiding Officer could not seek royal assent for the law.
Scottish ministers challenged the veto in court, but the Court of Session in Edinburgh rejected the challenge.
The GRR law would have lowered the age at which people could change their legal gender from 18 to 16, remove the requirement for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and allow people to self-identify their legally recognised sex.
Ms Sturgeon's suggestion that Scotland should have some type of mechanism in line with Northern Ireland to allow an independence referendum comes weeks after the current First Minister John Swinney made a similar suggestion.
Under the Good Friday Agreement an explicit provision for holding an Irish border poll was made in UK law.
The Northern Ireland Act 1998 states that “if at any time it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland”, the Secretary of State shall make an Order in Council enabling a border poll.
The legislation does not make clear exactly what situation would satisfy this requirement.
Sinn Fein, which wants a united Ireland, became the biggest party in the Stormont Assembly in May 2022 with party leader Michelle O'Neill later installed as First Minister. Yet since the developments, no Northern Ireland Secretary has regarded the border poll criteria as having been met.
Speaking to the Holyrood Sources podcast, Mr Swinney made the case for a Scottish mechanism.
“If there is an acceptance that there is a route by which this can be addressed for Northern Ireland, there has to be an acceptance of a route for Scotland - that cannot be resisted. That is just a logical, democratic consistency that cannot be sustained.”
The First Minister said: “We’ve now got a situation in Northern Ireland, for example, there is an accepted means by which the constitutional status of Northern Ireland can be changed, ie there can be a border poll.
“But there is not apparently the possibility of such an opportunity for a process and a route to exist for Scotland and that’s not good enough and that’s not appropriate for a democracy.”
However, the First Minister did not appear to be about to make a formal proposal to Sir Keir Starmer.
Speaking later to the BBC Scotland's Sunday Show Mr Swinney was asked if he would be going to the Prime Minister to get a mechanism in "black and white". He replied that his 'priority' was building support for independence.
