The Scottish People Vs The UK Government

To all supporters of this petition. 

As you are all aware, Nicola Sturgeon has now formally requested a section 30 order from the UK Government. This will be refused as Boris Johnson has stated many times.

When it is refused, over 200 ordinary scots have already decided that not just the Scottish Government should take legal action, but those ordinary Scots should do so alongside them. 

A crowdfunder under Crowd Justice has been launched to raise the necessary funding to pursue that case and to defend our fundamental right under international law and civil and political convention to be asked and to answer the constitutional question with respect to independence for Scotland.

This case will be a landmark case, which I urge all of you to support and to assist with it hitting its funding goals.

 

It is our intention to lodge an action by ordinary members of Scotlands general population against the UK Government when they refuse or ignore a formal request from the First Minister of Scotland for an order under Section 30 of the Scotland Act to devolve the powers necessary to hold a second independence referendum.
The Scottish Government intends to lodge a formal request for a section 30 order within days. It is therefore imperative, in light of the fact that legal counsel is in place and instructed that we now raise the necessary funds to move forward. 

Please donate what you can and share the page vis social media and email with friends and family!

What are we trying to achieve? 

It is the intention of this action, to duly notify the UK Government that should they fail to acquiesce to a formal request by the Scottish Government for a Section 30 order so that a Second Referendum on Independence from the United Kingdom can be called, that the people, not just the Government of Scotland will seek to defend our civil and political rights by initiating legal action against them.

The aim is simple, to defend the inalienable right of the Scottish people to engage in the fundamental right to vote on the constitutional question without reliance on any politician to ensure that those rights are enabled. 
Whether or not the Scottish Government take legal action against the UK Government for refusal or ignoring of a section 30 request is immaterial, our action will have the effect of being the electorate defending its rights against the UK Government who are seeking to usurp them, this would, therefore, complement any action that the Scottish Government may seek to take against the UK Government. 

Who has been chosen to represent the people in the action against the UK Government?

As the action would be initiated in the Court of Session, Scotlands supreme courts, it requires both an instructing solicitor and an advocate.

In this action, Elaine Motion of Balfour+Manson LLP has been chosen to act as instructing solicitor.

Alongside Elaine, she will be instructing Mr Aidan O'neill to Act as Advocate.

If these names seem familiar, it is because they should be.

They have an acute recent experience of arguing matters with respect to the current constitutional situation, on top of their years of experience in law in general

Elaine Motion was instructing solicitor in the revoking Article 50 case (Wightman), Prorogation of Parliament Case (Cherry) and the recent Benn act case (Dale Vince) when she instructed Aidan O’Neill QC in all three cases to act as an advocate.

As far as legal experience in the constitutional arena goes, they are the best Scotland has to offer.

Elaine Motion is a band 1 solicitor in Civil Liberties, Professional Discipline and Administrative and Public Law. She has been practising since the mid-1980s with international experience from 1993 working as a barrister in New Zealand. She returned to Scotland in 1997 and joined Balfour+Manson, becoming a partner of the firm in 1997 and a solicitor advocate in 1999.  She headed up the litigation team of the company with some 65 professionals before taking up the position of Chairman on 3rd March 2014. 

Aidan O'Neill, QC is a Scottish advocate, barrister, and Queen's Counsel. He has pleaded almost thirty times before the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and House of Lords, as well before the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights.  

What is the next step in the case? 

It has been agreed with counsel that the first stage in the process will be what is terms as pre-litigation. This will occur after the First Minister has formally issued the request for a Section 30 order.

This pre-litigation will be a formal notification in writing to the UK Government that if they fail to acquiesce to the request for a section 30 within a reasonable timetable, action will be taken against the UK Government in Court.

A copy of this notification will also be furnished to the Scottish Government which will ensure that they are duly notified that action will be happening, so if they wish to attach themself to that action, or lodge their action at the same time, or seek more information on the proposed action they may do so.

When the UK Government fails to comply with the conditions set out in pre-litigation, legal action will be commenced by our legal team in the Court of Session in Edinburgh and it shall proceed as if it were any other case.

With respect to each stage of the action, details will be published publicly online (except for work product i.e. sensitive information with respect to strategy). The initially published material will include the pre-litigation and the preliminary position of our legal counsel with respect to the proposed position at the conclusion of the fundraiser.

How much we are raising and why? 

We will be taking a phased approach to funding so if more funding does become necessary later on, we will approach the movement with the new figure. However, after discussions with Counsel, they have suggested that a starting figure of £40,000 would be enough to initiate the first phase of action against the UK Government. 

All funding from this fundraiser will be sent directly to Balfour+Manson LLP, Solicitors, the legal firm retained to initiate this action.

It is our intention to apply, in the initial stages, to the court for a Protected Expenses Order. A protective expenses order (PEO) is an order which regulates the scope of a party's liability in expenses in certain types of litigation. The purpose of a PEO is to redress the potential imbalance of financial resources between parties in relation to funding litigation. 

In other words, an application is made to the court to set a cap on how much both parties may expend in terms of financial resources. Although this somewhat reduces the potential costs recovered after a win, it also ensures that the UK Government would not be allowed to expend as much tax-payers money defending the action as they see fit, limited to the same financial resources as the petitioners, thereby levelling the playing field with respect to financial resources.