Referendums (Scotland) Bill

The Scottish Government introduced the Referendums (Scotland) Bill on Tuesday 28 May 2019. The Policy Memorandum explains that the Bill covers a range of issues which can be broken down into three main headings:

• The framework 
• Conduct of polls and counts
• Campaign rules

The Committee is the lead Committee and in order to inform its scrutiny is seeking written aspects on all aspects of the Bill. The closing date for responses was Friday 9 August 2019. Read the call for evidence.

Read the responses to the call for evidence.

In June 2019, the Committee agreed to appoint Dr Alistair Clark, Reader in Politics at Newcastle University, as its Adviser on the Bill at Stage 1. 

SPICe Briefings

Briefings on the Referendums (Scotland) Bill 

SPICe: Comparison between different referendum legislation (408KB pdf)

Dr Alistair Clerk, Adviser to the Finance & Constitution Committee, Briefing Paper on Referendums (Scotland) Bill (325KB PDF)

SPICe: Briefing on Referendums (Scotland) Bill (1.42MB PDF)

Correspondence

• Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations - 1 October 2019 (462 KB PDF)
• Letter from the Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans view on protected subject-matters - 14 October 2019 (128 KB PDF)
• Electoral Commission briefing on Stage 2 debate on Referendums (Scotland) Bill - 26 November 2019(213KB PDF)
• Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Goverment Business and Constitutional Relations on Stage 3 Financial Memorandum - 10 December 2019 (222 KB PDF)

Stage 1

The Committee published its Stage 1 report on the Bill on 31 October 2019.

The Scottish Government response was received on 14 November 2019.    

The Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations wrote to the Committee on 21 November 2019.