By Keith Aitken in Edinburgh | 30 January 2012
A broad coalition of civil groups today launched itself into Scotland’s constitutional debate, but insisted that it was not the civic vehicle that First Minister Alex Salmond has suggested could propel the ‘devo-max’ option on to the referendum ballot paper.
At a media launch in Edinburgh this morning, Alison Elliot, convener of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, said: ‘We are not launching a campaign for a particular outcome in the referendum. We are not launching a campaign to get a second question on the ballot paper.’
She also insisted that the new body would not align its timetable to the Scottish Government’s referendum consultation, now under way. The aim, she said, was to create a space ‘in which ideas, discussions and doubts are welcome’.
In the first instance, this will take the form of a website, launching later in the week, where the coalition’s diverse membership can lodge papers setting out their own constitutional perceptions and concerns with a view to answering the question: the future of Scotland? It will be followed up by a conference in Glasgow at the beginning of March.
The coalition’s membership is broad. It runs from the Scottish Trades Union Congress to the Institute of Directors, and includes the SCVO, the churches, the Scottish Youth Parliament, the National Union of Students and two think-tanks, Reform Scotland and the Centre for Scottish Public Policy.
But there are also some conspicuous absentees, notably the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, which was a key player in previous civic constitutional initiatives like the Constitutional Convention and the Calman Commission. Other business lobbies including CBI Scotland and the Federation of Small Businesses are also absent. All are understood to have been approached and decided against taking part, at least for now.
A bigger problem for the coalition are the expectations raised by the timing of its formation. It comes just as David Cameron has dismissed calls for an additional referendum option of more devolved powers, up to and including the ‘devo-max’ formula of full Scottish fiscal autonomy within the UK.
This option, consistently popular in polls, is reflected in warnings from former First Minister Henry McLeish and others that the Union as constituted is unfit for purpose, and that Scots need positive reasons to choose a future within the UK. Salmond says he is open to a devo-max question if there is sufficient civic demand for it.
But Ben Thomson, chair of Reform Scotland, said he saw the new coalition as a way to shift debate away from an obsession with process towards deciding what the best outcomes for Scotland would be. IoD Scotland director David Watt added: ‘We have no preconceived notions about what the debate’s outcome will be.’
