Recommendation 7

During its inquiry the Committee considered a range of statutory and non-statutory options from comparative constitutional practice, these included:
An amendment to the Scotland Act that would give to the Scottish Parliament powers to legislate directly for a referendum if certain criteria are met (such as the referendum provisions in St Kitts and Nevis or in Liechtenstein) or that confers such a power more broadly (such as in the Turks and Caicos Islands);
An amendment to the Scotland Act that would place a duty and/or confer a discretionary power to hold a referendum on the UK Government (or to transfer such a power to the Scottish Parliament) if certain criteria are met (such as the referendum provisions contained in the Northern Ireland Act or in the constitution of Ethiopia);
Binding political agreement between the Scottish and UK Governments as to what measures – votes in devolved and/or UK elections; votes in the devolved legislature; quantitative and qualitative opinion polls; other forms of civic engagement such as citizens’ assemblies – should determine the clear will of the people of Scotland to be asked and to answer the question of Scottish independence.