SNP call for Holyrood to have power to call future independence referendum

Alex Salmond had to get agreement from Westminster to hold the 2014 independence referendum

Senior SNP MPs have tabled an amendment to the Scotland Bill calling for Holyrood to be given control over any future referendum on independence.

Former first minister Alex Salmond and Westminster leader Angus Robertson are among six MPs proposing the change.

The Scotland Bill enters its final parliamentary stage in the House of Commons with a debate and vote on Monday.

Holyrood decided the timing and some rules for the 2014 referendum but only after temporary powers were granted.

Constitutional matters are reserved to Westminster. The referendum required the signing of the Edinburgh Agreement between the UK and Scottish governments which gave the Scottish Parliament the power to hold a single-question referendum until the end of 2014.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said a second vote on the issue would only be held when there is "strong and consistent" evidence that the majority of Scots want to leave the UK.

Nicola Sturgeon has said a second referendum should only be held when there is clear evidence of support for it

But she also warned that demand for another ballot could be "unstoppable" if Scotland was removed from the EU against its wishes in the forthcoming in/out referendum on membership.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the conduct of the 2014 referendum was "beyond reproach" and set a precedent for how such matters should be handled in future.

He told the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland: "On this issue of this significance the Scottish Parliament should be able to determine exactly how this issue is handled in the years to come."

He added: "The fact that the Scottish Parliament exercised its competence with such care and such effectiveness on this question should allay any questions on whether it is right for the Scottish Parliament to hold that particular power.

"What we've seen in the course of the last 15 or 16 years has been a transfer of additional responsibilities beyond the ones that were originally conceived of in the Scotland Act when the reservation on constitutional policy was put in place."

Last week the UK government revealed more than 80 amendments it has tabled on the bill, which is designed to implement the post-referendum Smith Commission on devolution.