Commentary Referendum
7.Section 1 of the Act provides for a referendum on a question about Scotland’s independence. It sets out the question and the date of the referendum.
8.Section 1 also introduces schedule 1 to the Act which sets out the design of the ballot paper to be used in the referendum.
9.The ballot paper asks voters whether Scotland should be an independent country and seeks a yes or no response.
10.The date of the referendum will be 18 September 2014. Subsections (5) to (7) give the Scottish Ministers power by order approved by the Scottish Parliament to modify the date of the referendum to a later date, but only where it would be impossible or impractical to hold the referendum on the original date, or if the referendum would not be conducted properly. The power includes making supplementary or consequential provision as a result. Any new date must be no later than 31 December 2014.