An exchange of letters between Respect Scottish Sovereignty and the First Minister
Concerning the Political Rights of the Scottish People
Readers will recall that I posted an Open Letter to First Minister John Swinney on August 29th from Respect Scottish Sovereignty, a grassroots movement whose objective is to convince MSPs that Direct Democracy is the tool by which to achieve Scotland’s constitutional goal of Popular Sovereignty. The letter has been signed by 362 people.
RSS hand delivered the letter to the FM at Holyrood on October 21st, with copies to Kate Forbes, Keith Brown, Lorna Slater, members of the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee (CPPC) and the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC). The letter asked the FM to enact the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) into Scottish law, to give the Scottish People the power via referendums and initiatives to exercise their sovereignty.
In addition to giving citizens Direct Political Rights (Article 25), Article 1 of ICCPR is the right of all peoples to Self-Determination:
As the FM put it so well himself in his September 1, 2024, SNP conference speech:
However, the toolbox is empty. The Scottish administration has the power to fill it since The Scotland Act 1998 allows it to incorporate international human rights agreements that the UK has ratified into Scottish law. This right has been confirmed by SHRC, Scotland's UN-accredited Human Rights watchdog.
Here is the response we received on November 25th to our letter:
You will note that the letter is not from the FM or indeed from any other Scottish minister, nor is it even signed by any individual. Undeterred by this fob off, RSS hand delivered its reply to the FM to the Scottish Parliament’s back goods entrance (the only place letters to MSPs will be accepted) on December 19th:
RSS has opened up another front in its efforts to get elected MSPs to pay attention to the People and enact ICCPR into Scots law. It has submitted a petition which will apply to devolved matters and which has been approved by the civil servants for submission to Holyrood’s Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee (CPPC), together with official Scottish government comment, probably during February. Pending consideration by CPPPC, the Petition will be published on the Scottish Parliament Petitions site in early January.
I will let readers know when the petition is live so they can sign it.
Finally, RSS is encouraging communities across Scotland to organise around local issues of concern, such as the Pylons in the Highlands, to demand their democratic rights. Direct Democracy is the only way to counter government and corporate overreach that is blighting the lives of so many Scots.
As Swinney said last September:
So come on, elected representatives of the People of Scotland - work with us so we can build a better nation - together.
I recently received a circular letter sent out under the name of John Swinny. It would have gone
to all Members. I responded by saying Dear John. ETC. Making some points which thought weere important.
I received a wooly reply signed by someone. I emailed back asking Did John Swinny ever see my email and did he see the reply to me ? Weeks have passes and I have not yet received a reply.
I am not holding my breath.
Shameful but not unexpected. Same story as when we tried to deliver the Stirling Directive. I was there and it demonstrated how little the government we elect cares for the people of Scotland. It's time we reminded them that we, not they, are Sovereign.