"The UK is a voluntary union but the Scottish parliament cannot call an independence referendum without Westminster’s approval."
"What is clear, for now, is that the discussion and debate is on the independence side. Labour and Tories both want to avoid the debate and avoid a vote. They both support/accept Brexit. They are both focused on England. And they both think they can continue to get away with a nod to the idea of a voluntary union while refusing to discuss what the route to ending the union could be.
This is surely living on borrowed time. The independence debate is not going away. And polls show sustained majorities for independence in the under-50s. The continued, sneering dismissal of those who think independence can deliver Scotland a better future is a shabby and self-defeating politics (not least from those who once campaigned against Brexit but now are contemptuous of the entirely reasonable idea of rejoining the EU whether as the UK or as an independent Scotland).
Scotland, the Supreme Court says, cannot have a referendum without Westminster’s approval. But what the SNP, and others, put in their election manifestos is up to them. We’re on a path to a quasi-referendum. And Scotland will have its say."