What is a Section 30 Order? Can a second Scottish independence referendum happen without it?

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon spoke at Holyrood today revealing her plans to enter negotiations with Prime Minister Boris Johnson to grant a Section 30 order for Scottish independence.

© Nicola Sturgeon is campaigning for a Section 30 order to legitimise a second independence referendum...

“What I am not willing to do, what I will never do, is allow Scottish democracy to be a prisoner of Boris Johnson or any Prime Minister,” Nicola Sturgeon said at Holyrood on June 28.

The debate surrounding a second referendum has returned to the political agenda following the results of the Scottish Parliament election on 6 May.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has officially requested Westminster begin the process to allow another independence referendum to be held in Scotland.

What is the process for achieving this, and is it likely that Scotland will have a second independence referendum?

READ MORE: What did First Minister Nicola Sturgeon say in indyref 2 announcement today at the Scottish Parliament?

Section 30 Orders: What are they?

Section 30 refers to the section of the Scotland Act 1988 which bestows powers on Holyrood, allowing them to pass laws which would otherwise only be reserved to Westminster.

Currently, the Scottish Government lacks the legal power to hold a referendum on constitutional matters such as independence.

If the Scottish Parliament is to pass legislation on this matter, it must have the legal power to do so transferred to it from the UK government - either temporarily or permanently via a “Section 30 order.”

Is it the first time Section 30 orders have been granted?

Video: Sturgeon sets October 2023 date for indyref2, but court to rule on legality (PA Media)

Sturgeon sets October 2023 date for indyref2, but court to rule on legality

PA Media See more videos

SHARE

SHARE

TWEET

SHARE

EMAIL

What to watch next

• 

  Hundreds join rally against gender recognition reforms

  
  PA Media
• 

  Witness comes forward as search for missing Nicola Bulley reaches 10th day

  
  PA Media
• 

  No-one ‘at any level’ in Government in talks on NHS pay, Unite says

  
  PA Media
• 

  Liz Truss is 'back with no apology and no humility', says Liz Kendall

  
  PA Media
• 

  Father ‘blown away’ by support after running length of M1 for diabetic son

  
  PA Media
• 

  Grant Shapps admits Liz Truss 'clearly' took the wrong approach to the economy

  
  PA Media
• 

  UK industrial action: What strikes are coming up?

  
  PA Media
• 

  Politics daily briefing: February 5

  
  PA Media
• 

  China threatens response after US shoots down spy balloon

  
  PA Media
• 

  Family and friends question police theory that Nicola Bulley fell in river

  
  PA Media
• 

  UK industrial action: What strikes are coming up?

  
  PA Media
• 

  Politics daily briefing: February 4

  
  PA Media
• 

  Government has blood on its hands, says survivor of transfusions scandal

  
  PA Media
• 

  UK government ‘inconsistent’ on dealing with Northern Ireland’s troubled past – Micheal Martin

  
  PA Media
• 

  Travel agent who pretended to family and customers she had cancer jailed

  
  PA Media
• 

  Fashion designer Paco Rabanne dies aged 88

  
  PA Media

Click to expand

Replay Video

• Hundreds join rally against gender recognition reforms A controversial gender critic has thanked the Scottish Government for “waking up” the country after the row over the placement of a double rapist in a women’s prison. Standing for Women, headed by Kellie-Jay Keen – also known as Posie Parker – staged a protest in Glasgow on Sunday against the Scottish Government’s gender recognition reform proposals, which were passed by a majority of MSPs in December but blocked by the UK Government. A slightly smaller counter-protest staged by pro-reform advocates and dubbed Cabaret Against the Hate Speech took place just metres from the Standing for Women event, with both sides separated by a police cordon. Speaking in George Square, Ms Keen also attacked the Scottish Government over the case of Isla Bryson – who raped two women when she was a man called Adam Graham before transitioning. Bryson was imprisoned in segregation at Cornton Vale women’s jail near Stirling upon her conviction, before being moved to the male estate after a public outcry. PA Media
• Witness comes forward as search for missing Nicola Bulley reaches 10th day A woman described as a “key witness” by police searching for missing mother Nicola Bulley has come forward, as Lancashire Police warned against “totally unacceptable” speculation and abuse on social media. On Saturday, officers said they wanted to trace a person seen pushing a pram in the area near where the dog walker went missing. In an update on their Facebook page, Lancashire Police said the woman had come forward “very quickly”. PA Media
• No-one ‘at any level’ in Government in talks on NHS pay, Unite says There is no-one “at any level” in the Government who is involved in talks about NHS pay as the health service faces what is expected to be the biggest strike in its history, a union leader has said. Tens of thousands of nurses and ambulance staff in England are set to walk out on Monday, with nurses due to strike again on Tuesday and ambulance crews and call handlers returning to the picket lines on Friday. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham was asked on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme whether “on the eve of the biggest health strike in history there is zero conversation between anyone in your union and anyone at all speaking for the Government?” PA Media

UP NEXT

It would not be the first time this happens as Section 30 orders have been used 16 times since the devolved Scottish parliament was created in 1999.

MSPs used these orders to legislate on topics such as reducing the voting age in Scottish elections.

Will Section 30 be granted by the UK government this time?

The existing Scottish Government was elected after the SNP and Scottish Green Party formed a power-sharing agreement that entailed both parties promising to host a second referendum in future.

The Scottish Government therefore states it has a democratic imperative to host another referendum.

However, as it stands there has yet to be consent given to the order and there is no indication that Boris Johnson’s UK Government will do so.

Many pro-Union advocates are arguing that Scottish independence was already settled in 2014, and voting for the Greens and SNP does not specifically confirm an endorsement of a second referendum, regardless of their election manifestos.

Can a Scottish independence referendum happen without a Section 30 order?

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the Scottish Government could seek another referendum without a Section 30 order from the UK government.

At Bute House in Edinburgh on June 14, Sturgeon declared her government would “forge a way forward - if necessary - without a Section 30 order.”

However, the legal legitimacy of a second referendum without UK government approval is questionable, and has been dubbed a “wildcat referendum” by unionists.

Realistically, this battle would be contested at the Supreme Court, just as the UK government has successfully done in the past while contesting Scottish Parliament legislation that lied beyond their legal authority.

This would result in a loss for Sturgeon’s push to bring Scotland an ‘indyref2’.

As of June 28, the First Minister has stated her intention to host another Scottish referendum on October 19, but acknowledged that the bill will certainly go to court without a granted Section 30 order.

However, she said that if the court does not act in favour of the referendum then this is the fault of “Westminster legislation and not the court.”