The head of the United Kingdom Public Service has been urged to step in and stop Scottish bureaucrats from planning for an independent Scotland.
Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon announced late last year that Public Servants working for the Scottish Government would be producing a prospectus on how Scotland would look outside the United Kingdom.
It was later revealed that 11 Public Servants were working full-time on creating the prospectus.
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland in the UK Parliament, Ian Murray has written to Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case calling for an investigation that would “ultimately reverse” the decision.
Mr Case is the ultimate head of all the Public Services in the UK but does not normally intervene in cases where bureaucrats work for the Scottish, Welsh or Northern Ireland Governments.
Mr Murray wrote that many people would consider the independence project a deeply inappropriate use of public funds at any time, not least while Scotland was still in the midst of a pandemic.
“The Scottish National Party is, of course, perfectly entitled to set out its plans for separation, but Scottish taxpayers should not be expected to foot the bill for a prospectus which the majority have already rejected in a national referendum,” Mr Murray wrote.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said it was the role of the Public Service to support the elected Government of the day in developing and implementing its policies.
This view was supported by a former Conservative Member of the Scottish Parliament and Constitutional Law Professor, Adam Tomkins.
Professor Tomkins said while he was not in favour of Scottish independence “Civil Servants exist to support their Ministers and, like it or not, it is Scottish Government policy to pursue independence via a second referendum”.
A spokesman for the Cabinet Office refused to be drawn on the substance of the letter, but said the UK Government had made it clear that now was not the time for a further independence referendum.
London, 31 January 2022
