Should Scotland leave the UK? Scots voted “no” to that question eight years ago. But Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon wants to put it to them again next year: she announced a new independence vote on October 19 2023.

She knows the bid to take her case to the UK Supreme Court is a long shot. And a referendum wouldn’t necessarily be in her Scottish National Party’s best interest — at current polling, the SNP would lose the vote, and what then would the point be of the party at all?

Yet Sturgeon’s move showcases her trademark clever tactics. She may not want the actual independence battle just yet, but she clearly would welcome a fight about having one. A legal and political dust-up is a way of rallying the SNP troops, capitalising on how much Scots love to hate Boris Johnson and distracting from the country’s deeper problems...