AN appeal in the People’s Action on Section 30 will be heard on April 6, before the Scottish Parliamentary election after Lord Malcolm yesterday granted a motion of urgent disposal to speed up the process at the Court of Session.

Indy campaigner Martin Keatings, convener of Forward As One, is seeking a declarator from the court that the Scottish Government has the power to hold a second independence referendum without “consent” from Westminster.

Lady Carmichael dismissed the case after a two-day hearing last month, ruling it was “premature” and the question of another indyref was “also hypothetical, and may never come to pass”.

Aidan O’Neill QC, for Keatings, yesterday referred to Constitution Secretary Mike Russell’s statement on the evening that submissions to Carmichael concluded, when he said there would be a draft bill for indyref2 with the intent of introducing legislation before the Scottish Parliament.

“We see this very much as a live issue which requires an authoritative ruling from the court,” said O’Neill.

Russell had set out the “road map in which he stated that not only would there be a draft bill published before the forthcoming elections in May, but it was the intention of the party of which he is a member ... to introduce a bill before the Scottish Parliament to have an independence referendum, whether or not the UK Government grants any such power”.

READ MORE: People's Action on Section 30 indyref2 court case dismissed as 'premature'

“Clearly it’s not just been an election issue but an issue of dispute between the UK and Scottish Government being seen as central to the basis of which voters are being asked to cast their votes,” he added.

Andrew Webster QC, for the Advocate General of Scotland, disagreed about the need for “urgency” and said the question would still be irrelevant: “If the draft bill is indeed relevant ... then I beg the question where is the rationale to have this matter disposed of before that bill is available? Where is the rationale to have the matter disposed of before the bill is available if it is not relevant?”

Another issue under dispute was a protective expenses order (PEO), after O’Neill told the court in January the members of Forward As One would seek expenses on the basis that the case was not pursued for Keatings’s personal gain but to vindicate their “public rights as ordinary voters”.

O’Neill told Lord Malcolm it is “entirely clear the pursuer himself is not wealthy in any sense”, and without the order there would be a “real and substantial barrier to justice”. A crowdfunding appeal for the action on Crowd Justice currently sits at almost £215,000, but Webster quoted a figure of “£258,234 when last counted” which had been referred to in an “unsigned” affidavit.

Keatings who is standing as a candidate for AFI in Mid-Scotland and Fife, told The National: “We are pleased to see that Lord Malcolm has considered our motion and that this case must be heard prior to the May 2021 elections for Holyrood.”

He tweeted after the date was announced: “Pleased to confirm that Lord Malcolm has ruled in our favour on the motion for urgent disposal ... Date confirmed for the #PeoplesAS30 hearing in the Inner House of the Court of Session. It will be on April 6, 2021 at 10.30am.”