The Westminster Government has formally declared that it believes the Scottish Parliament has no legislative competence to introduce a bill providing for a referendum on independence.

The announcement, made by Scottish Secretary Michael Moore, was immediately upstaged by First Minister Alex Salmond, who declared live on television that the Scottish Government wished to hold a referendum on the issue in the Autumn of 2014, whilst Moore was speaking in the Commons.

Moore’s statement included a proposal to modify the Scotland Act from Westminster, amending Section 30 which sets out the matters devolved to Holyrood, to facilitate “new powers” which he said “would need to be agreed between the Scottish and UK Governments and approved by the Scottish Parliament and both Houses of the UK Parliament.”

Moore said that without this provision, “any Bill introduced in the Scottish Parliament providing for a referendum on independence would be outside the powers of the Scottish Parliament and, if challenged, would be struck down by the courts.”

“The Scottish Parliament only has power to legislate on matters that are devolved and has no power to legislate on matters that are reserved to the UK Parliament,” he said.

“The Union of the Kingdoms of Scotland and England is one of those reserved matters. In our view legislation for a referendum brought forward by the Scottish Government would likely be challenged in court and the Scottish Government would lose.

“The UK Government does not believe that it is in Scotland’s interests to have Scotland’s constitutional future decided in court. The referendum must be legally watertight – there must be no doubt that it is lawful. That certainty can only be provided by legislation involving the UK Parliament.”

The constitutional limitations of the Holyrood Parliament had previously led to the proposed holding of an “advisory“ referendum, which would provide only political guidance on the will of the Scottish electorate, as opposed to having a binding outcome, but Moore also dismissed this possibility as also beyond the powers of Holyrood.

“It is the view of the UK Government that legislation providing for a referendum on independence plainly relates to the Union of the Kingdoms and is therefore outside of the Scottish Parliament’s legislative competence,” Moore said.

The Scottish Government had disagreed with this interpretation, claiming on BBC Newsnight that it had obtained its own legal advice to support this position. This advice has not been published.

First Minister Alex Salmond said that the cabinet of the Scottish Government had met, and that the date of the referendum would be Autumn 2014. However, this has not been agreed with the UK Government, and he hedged his position more carefully in a statement issued later, in a concession to the realpolitik that is now certain to dictate the timetable and legislative responses.

"The date for the referendum has to be the autumn of 2014. That's because this is the biggest decision that Scotland has made for 300 years,2 he said.

“If you are going to do things properly and have the debate in the way it must be had then that is the date that we are going to move towards."

Mr Moore emphasised that all matters pertaining to legislation on independence must be authorised via Westminster, which would “allow for a Bill providing for a referendum to be brought forward by Scottish Ministers”.

“The UK Government believes that it would also be sensible for the Scottish Parliament to consider and approve the eventual referendum Bill – within the parameters of the powers devolved by the UK Parliament,“ he said.

“Members of the UK Parliament will have a strong interest in the issue of independence – both because of its implications in Scotland, and because of its implications for the UK as a whole. The process of approving the Order would ensure that both Houses of Parliament debate and consider the powers to be devolved.”

The consultation issued by the Westminster Government can be read here.

Image Credit: BBC/Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images