Analysis paper

The Scotland analysis programme will provide comprehensive and detailed analysis of Scotland’s place in the UK. It will set out the facts about a range of constitutional, economic and policy issues that are critical to considering Scotland’s future. To inform the debate, the work will also set out analysis about the possible implications of independence, as far as these can be known.

This paper, the first in the series, examines the UK’s constitutional setup and the legal implications of independence.

Legal opinion

The legal opinion paper (Annex A) explores what Scottish independence would mean in law and practice. It has been compiled by two leading authorities on the issue of state formation and how this is seen in international law - James Crawford SC, Professor of International Law at the University of Cambridge, and Alan Boyle, Professor of Public International Law at the University of Edinburgh.