St Andrew’s Day Declaration Launched to assert Scotland’s Right to Self-Determination
The ALBA Party have today called on people and civic organisations across Scotland to endorse a St Andrew’s Day Declaration to assert the right to determine our own future.
The Declaration is an immediate response to last week’s Supreme Court decision which, as well as stating the Scottish Parliament did not have the power to legislate for a referendum on Scottish independence, seemed to question Scotland’s right to self-determination.
ALBA Party have lodged the declaration in the UK Parliament as an Early Day Motion and the party’s Westminster leader Neale Hanvey MP will also lead a St Andrew’s Day debate in the House of Commons.
The St Andrew’s Day Declaration states;
“We, the people, elected members and civic organisations of Scotland assert that our nation has the right of self-determination to freely determine our political status and to freely pursue our economic, social and cultural development. Mindful of the Scottish constitutional tradition of the sovereignty of the people, we will democratically challenge any authority or government which seeks to deny us that right”.
ALBA have published the declaration online in order that as many Scots as possible can endorse it and the party’s activists will also be gathering support and signatures over the coming weeks.
Commenting ALBA Party leader Alex Salmond said;
“No self-respecting Scot is going to be told by anyone that we are a second class country without full national rights. The wording of the St Andrew’s Day declaration reflects the internationally accepted position of the United Nations. It was also the cross party consensus which established the Scottish Parliament that, whatever our political future, it was for Scots to freely determine. In publishing this Declaration, ALBA are building a movement to take our case to the highest court in the land - the sovereign people of Scotland.”