How can Independence be achieved? – Simply a majority of Scottish people must declare for it.
Independence is never given away by an imperial power, it must always be taken from them.
This has been true through all history and throughout the world.
And never more true than when involving England and its imperial power.
Despite the fact that the English Westminster government has broken the Treaty of Union of 1707 and refused Scotland the right to hold its own referendum among its own people, proving that this Union is not a voluntary Union of equal nations, but a colonisation of Scotland by England, there remains a clear and simple path to independence for the Scottish people.
Provided that the Scottish government have the moral courage and will for a perfectly legal and constitutional defiance in service of Scottish Independence.
A new independence referendum is currently being denied Scotland under a Westminster declaration that a Section 30 order is legally necessary for this to occur, and such a referendum can only be permitted by Westminster. This has been upheld under UK law by English courts empowered by a Westminster government which is 82% English and only 9% Scottish.
Scotland however has its own law and a denial of its own right to self determination is not part of that Scottish Law. The Scottish government can simply pass a new law that it has the right to poll its electorate’s opinion on the matter of Scotland’s future.
This is necessary for good governance, that a government knows the opinion of its electorate. This need not specifically be a constitutional referendum on independence, but merely an opinion poll on the subject, executed under Scottish Law at the ballot box as an additional voluntary ballot paper issued at Holyrood or Westminster elections.
This voluntary opinion ballot should only be valid when filled in by native born Scottish people who divulge their name, date and place of birth at their ballot. This can be authenticated by immediate passport inspection, or by examining existing official records of birth.
This would now put Scotland in a position to present to the world a single legally authenticated percentage figure of native born Scots who desire that Scotland be an independent nation.
This percentage, which is likely to be 60-75%, and possibly even higher, is an immediate legal ground for Scotland to declare itself as having left the UK Union, and to apply to the UN, EU, NATO and if necessary the International Court of Justice for recognition as an independent nation.
All of these organisations will accept Scotland’s nationhood under their own rules and precedents. Westminster’s opinion on the matter is utterly irrelevant. Every one of these global organisations recognise the reluctance of an imperial power to give up a colony, and every imperialist power’s ready use of deceptive local law to thwart independence.
World governing bodies would immediately recognise Scotland as an independent country and pressure England/Westminster to accept and recognise it.
England no longer has the world influence to prevent this diplomatically. England would not risk the loss of its extremely generous UN veto power by being globally seen as an antidemocratic imperialist tyrant.
(See How The 2014 Independence Referendum Was Lost for analysis of the issue of voting eligibility and its inevitable result.)