Let me make this clear @Douglas4Moray. THE COURTS not THE GOVERNMENT and NOT PARLIAMENT are masters of law and THE ONLY ONES ALLOWED TO INTERPRET IT. Parliament makes laws, The courts interpret them. Government and Parliament DO NOT SIT ABOVE THE COURTS. They sit EQUAL TO THEM.

This is to stop Governments and Parliaments from going off on one and becoming a full dictatorship. Only a court can rule something lawful or unlawful. I'm surprised that as a member of parliament you do not understand this very simple concept.
Inherent in the right to vote is the right not to vote. That is your choice if you opt not to vote in a referendum and the Tories boycott it. BUT LET ME BE CRYSTAL CLEAR - IF THE COURTS DETERMINE (and your panic shows how good our case is) THAT IT IS LAWFUL FOR HOLYROOD...
...TO LEGISLATE FOR A SECOND REFERENDUM WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF WESTMINSTER (#PEOPLESAS30) then your "boycott" is NOT a "boycott" - It would not delegitimise the vote. Only the courts get to decide what is lawful or unlawful. Not you or your tory cronnies.
The courts having said a referendum WOULD BE LAWFUL would mean that IT WOULD BE YOU WILFULLY MAKING THE CHOICE NOT TO VOTE IN THAT REFERENDUM - IT WOULD BE THE FREE EXERCISE OF YOUR RIGHT NOT TO VOTE, INHERENT IN THE RIGHT TO VOTE! - YOU'LL HAVE MADE THE CHOICE COGNISANT OF...
...AN ORDER OF THE COURT STATING THAT THE REFERENDUM WAS FULLY LAWFUL.

- THE SAME IS TRUE OF YOUR TORY COHORT.
If the courts say a referendum legislated for at Holyrood is lawful, then it is lawful...period! Your choice not to vote in that referendum would simply mean your vote not being counted - YOU KNOW LIKE THE 40-50% OF PEOPLE WHO DON'T VOTE IN GENERAL ELECTIONS!
Just because you choose not to participate in something or see something, does not mean it's not a fact. You cannot apply the logic you use with the raw deal you give benefit claimants (hear no evil, see no evil) to referenda.
In any case. Proving that it is legitimate and lawful for Holyrood to legislate for a referendum without consent (#peoplesas30) means that your input will not be required.
The days of the tories dictating whether or not we can engage in our fundamental right to vote on our own constitutional future is over - so suck it up!

More from Government

Typically excellent piece from @dsquareddigest The exponential insight is especially neat. Think of it a little like fishing...today you can’t export oysters to the EU (because you simply aren’t allowed to), tomorrow you don’t have a fish exporting business (to the EU).


The extremely small minority of people who known anything about this who think that Brexit will be good for the City make a number of arguments which I shall address in turn...

1. They need us more than we need them. This is a variant of the German carmakers argument. And we know how that went...Business will follow the profit opportunity and if that has moved then so will the business...

And what do we mean by us / we. We’re not talking about massed ranks of Euro investing / trading etc blue blooded British institutions.

Au contraire. We’re talking about the London based subs of US, Asian and indeed European capital markets players...As soon as they think the profit opportunity has moved then so will they...it’s a market innit...

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1/ Here’s a list of conversational frameworks I’ve picked up that have been helpful.

Please add your own.

2/ The Magic Question: "What would need to be true for you


3/ On evaluating where someone’s head is at regarding a topic they are being wishy-washy about or delaying.

“Gun to the head—what would you decide now?”

“Fast forward 6 months after your sabbatical--how would you decide: what criteria is most important to you?”

4/ Other Q’s re: decisions:

“Putting aside a list of pros/cons, what’s the *one* reason you’re doing this?” “Why is that the most important reason?”

“What’s end-game here?”

“What does success look like in a world where you pick that path?”

5/ When listening, after empathizing, and wanting to help them make their own decisions without imposing your world view:

“What would the best version of yourself do”?