Respecting Scotland’s Right to Decide

New Paper Sets Out Proposals for Constitutional Change

A paper setting out how the people of Scotland have the right to decide their constitutional future has been published by the Scottish Government.

‘Your Right to Decide’ sets out how, following a clear decision being made by the people of Scotland to hold a referendum, it is for both the Scottish Government and the UK Government to acknowledge and respect that decision.

The paper calls on the UK Government to make a clear commitment to respect the people’s right to choose their future.

Figures and institutions with very different political outlooks have long supported the idea that it is for people who live in Scotland to decide our country’s future. The United Kingdom is a democracy, so there must be a way by which the people of Scotland can exercise their right to decide if there should be a change to its constitutional status.

Scotland is a proud nation and a lively democracy. As such, there is always healthy debate about the best way forward for our country. But we can only have that debate – we can only make a decision about our future – if we get a choice. I urge everyone, whatever their views, to ensure that the people of Scotland’s right to decide is respected.

– CONSTITUTION SECRETARY ANGUS ROBERTSON

First Minister John Swinney launched the Right to Decide declaration at an event in Leith this morning.

He addressed SNP party members and elected members, as well as the media, during which he reiterated the democratic case and decried Labour’s pandering to Reform on immigration which goes entirely against Scotland’s interests. He accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of indulging in “utterly chilling language” on the subject.

The first minister urged Scots to “come together and demand a say over our future“.

At this pivotal moment in our story as a country – as our world changes rapidly around us, and as Westminster moves ever further away from the daily priorities of people in Scotland – let us come together and demand a say over our future.

By 2030, there will be one million young Scots eligible to vote who were too young in 2014. Some of them will not even have been born then.

That seems like a generation to me.

More than anyone else, Scotland’s future is their future. And they deserve to be heard.

– FIRST MINISTER JOHN SWINNEY

Background

Your Right to Decide

First Minister’s Speech in Full