So the Supreme Court has spoken… And now we know: it’s official, Scotland’s future is not in Scotland’s hands but in those of Westminster and a Government we did not elect.

To be honest, the judgement of the Supreme Court was not a massive surprise but it doesn’t half leave a bad taste in the mouth.

From Thatcher down to Sunak, UK politicians have been shifting the goalposts.

“As a nation, they have an undoubted right to national self-determination; thus far they have exercised that right by joining and remaining in the Union. Should they determine on independence, no English party or politician would stand in their way, however much we might regret their departure” was what Maggie Thatcher claimed – but that, now, is exactly what they are doing. Standing in our way.

During his first leadership election campaign, the now Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “We live in a union which is, of course, there by consent and by democracy, and I accept that."

Well, we know now that it is not there by consent and if Rishi Sunak accepted democracy, as he said he does, then he would legislate now for a Section 30 Order to allow for a referendum and “take [Nicola Sturgeon] on and win the argument on the union” as he claimed he wanted to do. Labour are little better, with Keir Starmer echoing the Tory line on no new independence referendum. It seems the democratic voice of the Scottish people matters as little to him as it does to Rishi Sunak. He obviously isn’t listening to the democratic voice of the Welsh people either because the First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, can see what his UK leader won’t: “The SNP won an election on the basis they would seek another referendum. How can that be denied to the Scottish people?”.

That’s the view from Wales, so what is the situation in Northern Ireland? Well, unlike anywhere else in the UK, there they do indeed have legislation that allows for a constitutional referendum to be called.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has a duty to arrange for a border poll if the support for it is evident. And they have a time limit on when a second one can happen – seven years. It has already been eight since the last Scottish independence referendum was held.

We’ve seen it with Covid, and we are seeing it again here. Rules don’t matter to Westminster. What matters is control and ensuring they retain it.

Meanwhile the people in my Cowdenbeath constituency suffer because of the actions of a UK Government we didn’t elect, a Brexit we didn’t want and an economic crisis not of our making.

We know that Scotland can do better than this if we could only unleash the massive potential that is currently suppressed by Westminster.

Scottish democracy must – and will – prevail.