UK and Scots leaders to discuss referendum

16 Jan 12
David Cameron and Alex Salmond are to meet to discuss Scotland’s independence referendum, following publication next week of the Scottish Government’s plans for the 2014 vote
By Keith Aitken in Edinburgh | 16 January 2012
 

David Cameron and Alex Salmond are to meet to discuss Scotland’s independence referendum, following publication next week of the Scottish Government’s plans for the 2014 vote.

The UK prime minister’s agreement to the talks is being seen as a minor tactical victory for Scotland’s first minister, who claims that six previous requests have been turned down. The UK government had previously said that Salmond should meet in the first instance with Scottish Secretary Michael Moore. 

This is no longer being held up by London as a pre-condition to the summit, although it seems likely that Moore will be involved in the talks process, possibly with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Talks are expected to get under way soon after publication of the Scottish Government proposals.

The prospect has done nothing to calm the febrile atmosphere surrounding the debate. Tom Harris, the Labour MP who stood in last month’s Scottish party leadership contest, has today resigned from his new post as media guru after posting a satirical internet video that cast Salmond as Hitler.

His video, for which he has apologised, was intended as a response to comments by Salmond’s PPS, Joan McAlpine, who called political critics of the referendum strategy anti-Scottish.

Moore has also appeared to row back from suggestions by Chancellor George Osborne that an independent Scotland might be unable to retain sterling as its currency. This weekend, Moore said he saw no legal impediment although issues could arise over monetary policy. But former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling said it would be ‘ludicrous’ for Scotland to remain in a currency over which it had no control.

Meanwhile, Salmond’s former deputy, Jim Sillars, today warned the first minister to tone down his defiance of Westminster’s attempts to set the terms for the referendum, saying the UK government holds all the legal cards. Sillars urged Salmond to negotiate an agreed procedure for the referendum with Cameron.

One vital issue is whether the ballot should include a third option of ‘devo-max’, or full fiscal autonomy within the UK. Salmond’s team appears to be in retreat from the idea, but others remain fervently in favour. 

Canon Kenyon Wright, who chaired the broad Constitutional Convention that drew up the current Holyrood system, said that failure to offer a vote on ‘devo-max’ would disenfranchise thousands of Scots.

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