NICOLA Sturgeon will go to Theresa May and present to her the express wishes of the Scottish Parliament to hold a second referendum on independence.

The vote in Holyrood, when it takes place, gives her the mandate to do this.

The First Minister will be able to tell the Prime Minister this request is from the democratically elected representatives of the Scottish people.

In doing so she can legitimately state this is bigger than the SNP or the Yes movement, it is the parliament that is requesting the powers for another vote.

It sounds like a request no-one who respects democracy could refuse. But the Prime Minister can and the irony is that   it is Ms Sturgeon who has provided the most recent precedent for turning a deaf ear to the will of the Scottish Parliament.

It must be uncomfortable for the First Minister to be reminded repeatedly that her government has ignored the will of the Parliament on several occasions.

So her opponents will be able to say ’what makes this vote any different?’

The First Minister is right however when she say she has a mandate to pursue a second referendum in the light of the Brexit vote and the discrepancy in the result in Scotland with the rest of the UK.

The SNP fought the 2016 election with that as a clear commitment so those conditions have been met and Nicola Sturgeon is entitled to try to implement it.

However the SNP didn’t win a majority and the Greens manifesto condition of one million signatures for a second referendum is nowhere near being met.

The Greens position could be opportunism to go for a referendum which many of its supporters want.

It could also be influenced by the fact there are council elections on the horizon.

If the Greens were to stick rigidly to, and take a principled stance on, their manifesto and vote down the chance to hold a second referendum then how many SNP second or third vote transfers would they kiss goodbye to.

So with the help of the Greens the Parliament will express its desire to hold a second referendum in a vote.

However Parliament speaks often and on a range of issues and its position is determined by a vote.

It spoke on scrapping the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, it spoke on calling in an overturning health board cuts it spoke on issues over education funding among others.

And on each of these occasions the will of the democratically elected Scottish Parliament was expressed in a vote, which was then ignored by the democratically elected Scottish Government.

Whether you are in favour of a second referendum or not and whether you are in favour of independence or not this represents a problem for the First Minister telling the Prime Minister she has no right to now block a referendum.

Either the will of Parliament is always respected and acted upon or it is not.

Just now it looks like all votes in parliament are equal, but some are more equal than others.