Referendum bill on independence to be launched by Alex Salmond's fringe party

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Alex Salmond’s fringe party has launched plans for a referendum on whether Holyrood should have the power to negotiate independence.Alba believes the vote should take place on the tenth anniversary of the first referendum.One SNP figure described the plan as “laughable” and “nonsense”.Salmond led the Yes movement to defeat in 2014 and pro-independence supporters have since struggled to find a route to indyref2.The UK Government has refused a joint agreement and judges closed the door on Holyrood organising its own referendum without Westminster’s consent.Alba MSP Ash Regan, who defected from the SNP, has now declared her party will try to break the constitutional logjam.She will introduce a Bill to consult voters on whether the powers of the Parliament should cover independence.Regan said: “It is ALBA Party’s policy that at each and every election Scotland should be offered the choice of voting for a mandate to negotiate independence. "That is unlikely to happen at the coming General Election since neither the SNP or the Greens support that proposition and have rejected the ALBA Party offer of a single Scotland United candidate standing in each constituency seeking that mandate. “But the real prospect of momentum lies here in Scotland.

Last year’s ill-fated expedition to the Supreme Court has halted the opportunity to propose an independence referendum in the Scottish Parliament. "However, there is nothing to stop our Parliament proposing a referendum which we believe would be within competence, and that is to ask the people whether they believe the powers of the Parliament should be extended to include the right to legislate for and negotiate independence."That is what my proposed new draft Bill does and I intend to