Referendum on the Independence of Scotland ... - Gov.uk

Part II:
Te purpose and structure of this advice
8. On 5 May 2011, the Scottish National Party (SNP) won a majority of seats in the Scottish
Parliament. The Scottish Government formed by the SNP wishes to hold a referendum
on the independence of Scotland from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland (UK). On 15 October 2012, the UK and Scottish governments signed an agreement
‘to work together to ensure that a referendum on Scottish independence can take place’
that states, among other things, that it should ‘have a clear legal base’, ‘be conducted
so as to command the confdence of parliaments, governments and people’ and ‘deliver
a fair test and a decisive expression of the views of people in Scotland and a result that
everyone will respect’. The agreement envisages that the Scottish Parliament will legislate
for a referendum to take place by the end of 2014. 1
9. Three departments of the UK Government – the Foreign and Commonwealth Offce, the
Cabinet Offce and the Offce of the Advocate General for Scotland – have jointly instructed
us to advise in connection with the proposed referendum.
10. We are asked to advise on two questions:
10.1 the status of Scotland and the rUK in international law after Scottish independence,
in particular ‘(a) the strength of the position that the rUK would be treated as
a continuation of the United Kingdom as a matter of international law and an
independent Scotland would be a successor state’; and
10.2 after Scottish independence ‘(b) the principles which would apply to determining the
position of the rUK and an independent Scotland within international organisations,
in particular the European Union’.
11. We are instructed that this advice has two principal purposes.
12. First, the UK Government has announced a programme of work to inform and support the
debate on Scotland’s future in advance of the referendum. One strand of the programme
will examine Scotland’s position in the wider world, including membership of the European
Union and other international organisations. The matters in this advice may also affect
other strands of the programme, including defence, currency, monetary policy, nationality
and border control. The programme will result in the publication of detailed evidence and
analysis to assess the benefts of Scotland remaining part of the UK.
1 Agreement between the United Kingdom Government and the Scottish Government on a referendum on
independence for Scotland, 15 October 2012,
www.number10.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Agreement-fnal-for-signing.pdf.