A provisional written constitution for an independent Scotland will be published this summer in the run-up to the referendum vote.
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon revealed the plans last night – exactly two years before the date when the SNP want the country to become fully independent in the event of a Yes vote in the referendum on September 18.
Details will be included in the draft Scottish Independence bill, providing for the nation to become an independent state, to be published before Holyrood breaks for the summer recess at the end of June.
Ms Sturgeon said a written constitution would be based on Scottish values.
“Today, the date which will become our independence day following a vote for independence this September, I want everyone in Scotland to consider who we are as a nation and what we have the potential to become,” she said.
“Independence is not a historical argument, it is the opposite – a live and vital opportunity to chart our own course, to give us the power to determine our own future and build the kind of country we can all be proud of.
“A written constitution is an important part of a nation’s identity – it defines who we are and sets out the values that we hold dear.”
The Independence bill will detail the process under which an independent Scotland would prepare a permanent written constitution in a “full participative process led by the people”.
Once the bill had been introduced to the Scottish Parliament, it would form the interim constitution until a constitutional convention – established by the Scottish Parliament elected in May 2016 – prepared a permanent constitution for Scotland.
In a keynote speech in Cardiff last night, Ms Sturgeon said the idea of an equal partnership between Scotland and the rest of the UK was a “sham”.
While Westminster insisted that an independent Scotland should pay its share of the national debt, it did not want to share any of the assets or national institutions Scotland had helped build up through taxes, National Insurance contributions, and television licence fees, she said.
“So the notion of an equal partnership has been shown up to be a sham,” Ms Sturgeon added.