UK PM Cameron to sign deal greenlighting Scottish independence referendum

 

David Cameron (R) shakes hands with the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond (Reuters / Toby Melville)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/scotland-independence-referendum-cameron-453/

UK Prime Minister David Cameron is set to sign a historic deal with Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond to hold a separation referendum in 2014. The signing followed give-and-take negotiations over the vote on whether Scotland will leave the UK.

Cameron and Salmond will finalize the agreement in Edinburgh on Monday, launching a 100-week battle over the future of the United Kingdom.

The 35-clause deal will greenlight Scots to vote on a single, yes-or-no issue: Whether Scotland should leave the UK. Salmond’s negotiator, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, shelved the possibility of a second question on the ballot asking voters whether they would support partial succession, with much greater powers for the Scottish parliament. Whitehall insisted on an all-or-nothing referendum.

Michael Moore, Secretary of State for Scotland in the UK, agreed to other points pursued by the Scottish National Party (SNP), which dominates the Scottish government. These issues included allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, and empowering the Scottish parliament to decide the date, the question and the franchise of the referendum.

“We've compromised, as have the Westminster government in these negotiations, but I'm very satisfied indeed that the outcome of these negotiations is the guarantee of a referendum made in Scotland,” Sturgeon told BBC One's Sunday Politics Scotland program.

"I think it's a good agreement. I believe it will now allow us to put up in lights the big issues about the big debate… on what is best for Scotland,” Moore told Sky News, adding that the referendum would be “legal, fair and decisive.”

Proponents of independence will have to campaign hard to swing public opinion in their favor: The latest poll by NS BMRB suggests that a majority of Scotts, 53 percent, favor staying in the UK, while only 28 percent want to separate.

The SNP’s call for separation from the UK comes amid rising sentiment in Scotland that the country’s national interests are being undermined by the government in London. Scotland joined with England and Wales in 1707, and participated in the British monarchy before that.

While a majority of Scots want more powers for their own government on issues like economy and defense, the prospect of full independence is viewed more skeptically.

Even if it declares independence, Scotland will likely retain Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch, as does Canada, Australia and other members of the British Commonwealth.

Alex Salmond reveals referendum question

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/223072.html

Scotland's First Minister has addressed the Scottish parliament on independence from the United Kingdom, stressing he will give people a "straightforward" and "clear" choice in the referendum.

Alex Salmond launched the Scottish National Party (SNP) government's consultation on the vote with a statement at Holyrood, declaring the referendum on the country's independence was "the most important decision by the people of Scotland in 300 years.”

Stating that the vote will be held in autumn 2014, Salmond said the question was “Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?"

He told the MSPs that the vote should “meet the highest standards of fairness, transparency and propriety.” The SNP leader also said that the government would appoint the Electoral Commission to regulate the referendum.

Salmond also said eligibility to vote would be determined by residency, adding, "The people who live and work in Scotland are best placed to decide its future."

Yet he set out plans to extend the franchise to 16 year olds. Saying, "It is right that our young people should have the chance to play their part in decisions about their community and their country."

"If a 16-year-old in Scotland can register to join the Army, get married and pay taxes, surely he or she should be able to have a say in this country's constitutional future?”

First Minister also announced that independent Scotland would have the Queen as head of state, but would do away with the nuclear weapons and would not be forced to deploy soldiers abroad.

Discussing Scotlnad's right to have a seat at Europe's top table, Salmond said that there were only 50 independent states at the time United Nations was formed. “Today, that figure has risen to almost 200. Of the 10 countries that joined the European Union in 2004, a majority had become independent since 1990, and Scotland is bigger than six of them.”

UK Prime Minister David Cameron and leaders of main parties in Westminster, who fear staging the vote would secure the split of the UK, called on the SNP government to conduct a vote sooner rather than later.

However, Salmon argued that 2014 was the soonest that the vote “could be held in a way that meets the high standards which the people of this country have a right to expect.”

Break up in the air for United Kingdom

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/220494.html

The days of the United Kingdom of England and Scotland seem to be numbered as the Scottish government has intensified the drumbeat of independence amid British efforts to undermine such efforts.

The newly retired British Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell predicted, while still in office a few weeks ago, that it would be an “enormous challenge” to hold the Union of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, formed in 1707, together.

Scottish first minister Alex Salmond said at the time that O'Donnell has been “extremely fair in recognizing and respecting the democratic mandate of the Scottish government.”

Salmond is now moving full steam ahead on the path to use the mandate based on the absolute majority of his Scottish Nationalist Party in the Scottish parliament to secure Scotland's independence from Britain.

SNP said just before the New Year that Scotland would have its own army, navy and air force after independence, like its Nordic neighbors, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

The party said they are working on a detailed plan to join the Scandinavian circle of countries in a bid to reduce ties with Britain and its western European allies.

Their unshaken push for independence, however, raised an angry response in London though the British government later tried to whitewash the issue.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg claimed a few days ago that those who believe in Scottish independence are “extremists.”

Clegg said the Scottish government should follow the Liberal Democrats' “center-ground” proposals of constitutional reforms to give Holyrood greater powers short of independence.

This is while the SNP had already proposed to hold a referendum that offers voters three choices: keeping the current arrangements, full independence or greater devolution powers.

In effect, the SNP was already offering the choice proposed by Clegg to the Scottish voters yet his suggestion that full independence should be removed from the available options angered the party.

A SNP spokeswoman said Clegg is using “the old and tried Tory scaremongering” to prevent the Scottish people from gaining “full financial powers.”

The duplicity behind Clegg's remarks was exposed, however, when the government announced they would make any referendum on Scotland leaving the UK, legally binding, only if the plebiscite offers a yes/no question on independence and if it is held within a maximum 18 months rather than in 2014 as proposed by the SNP.

Prime Minister David Cameron cited legal and economic uncertainty to justify his proposal but Scotland's deputy fist minister Nicola Sturgeon hit out at Cameron saying the offer is “a blatant attempt to interfere” in an issue which is not London's business.

This is while London seems keen to prevent a vote in 2014 as it would coincide with the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn during which England suffered a humiliating defeat against Britain.

Britain warns independent Scotland

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/184320.html

British defence secretary, Liam Fox has warned Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond against pushing for independence, media reports say.

Speaking to the Commons Scottish Affairs select committee, the defence secretary cautioned Salmond, saying that any plan for independence could threaten the future of Scotland's military bases and shipping industry, the Daily Telegraph reported.

In an explicit warning to Salmond, Fox said if Scotland would decide to go ahead with an independence bid there would “clear implications” for the positioning of the United Kingdom's army, navy and air force bases.

He also warned that separation could harm Scottish shipbuilding as it creates “uncertainty” among foreign countries interested in buying British warships.

Fox went on to threaten that shipyards in a separate Scotland could not expect military orders from the remainder of the UK.

However, he said the sites of military bases have not yet been influenced by the threat of Scottish independence as it remains “hypothetical.”

But pressed by Ian Davidson, the committee's convener, regarding what happens to the bases if Scotland would become a “foreign country,” the Defence Secretary said, “There would be clear implications for that.”

“I would be wanting to look with my colleagues across government at what the implications may be and how we might deal with them. It could potentially be a serious issue,” Fox said.

SNP win, green light for independence

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/178585.html

The Scottish National Party has got just what it needed to push ahead with its long-delayed campaign for the independence of Scotland from Britain with a historic referendum.

The SNP won a majority in the Scottish parliamentary elections getting past the half-way point by taking 65 seats that means the party leader Alex Salmond will be able to announce a referendum on Scotland's independence from Britain.

The landslide victory is the first such gains for any party since the Scottish parliament was formed back in 1999.

The final results of Scotland's vote count showed Labour standing the second in the Holyrood elections with 32 parliamentary seats while Conservatives won nine, Lib Dems got four and Scottish Greens grabbed one.

The SNP failed in the last parliament to get its proposals for a referendum on Scotland's independence through the parliament for a lack of support by the majority of MSPs.

Following the “historic” win, Salmond said the days of Labour dominance in central Scotland are “gone forever”

He added he will work to dramatically increase the economic freedom of the Scottish parliament including the right to set its own corporation tax and raise borrowing powers to £5 billion before going for the referendum.

"Just as the Scottish people have restored trust in us, we must trust the people as well, which is why, in this term of the parliament, we will bring forward a referendum and trust the people on Scotland's own constitutional future," he said.

The SNP victory brought Labour its worst election in the past 80 years forcing nine Labour MSPs who were at Holyrood from its inception in 1999 out of the parliament.

The SNP also infiltrated impenetrable Labour bastions by winning constituencies in Glasgow while it won seats in the capital Edinburgh for the first time.

Scotland to seek independence from UK

First Minister of Scotland and leader of Scotland National Party (SNP), Alex Salmond

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/178222.html

The Scottish election campaign has entered its final peaks as voters prepare to cast their ballots on Thursday amid mounting calls for Scotland's independence from the UK.

It is the fourth election since Edinburgh's Holyrood powerhouse was formed in 1999, with main contender Alex Salmond promising to hold an independence referendum by 2015 if he wins Thursday's polls.

The First Minister of Scotland claimed during a leaders' debate at the state-run BBC that victory in May 5 election would give him “moral authority” to pursue independence.

Salmond said he wanted the Scottish people to vote on breaking up the UK "in the second half of the [upcoming] parliament."

"I believe this country is good enough, big enough and rich enough to be independent”, he has said earlier in an independence rallying call.

However, Salmond's call for an independence referendum has been dismissed by Iain Gray, the Scottish Labour leader, who put the economy as his party's first priority.

"The priority is to get our economy growing again, to create jobs and to create opportunities for our young people,” said the Labour Party candidate.

After all, Scotland's four main party leaders fielded questions on free bus passes, tuition fees and Scotland's drive to generate more green power. Meanwhile, they all agreed that it was necessary to tackle bigotry and religious hatred at a national basis.

The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats will both start the day on a high, with Tory leader Annabel Goldie unveiling a giant peach ballot paper on Edinburgh's Calton Hill to urge voters to back her party on the peach-coloured second ballot.

Meanwhile, Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott will join candidate for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale Jeremy Purvis to ride the downhill mountain biking track at Innerleithen.

Finally, Green Lothians candidate Alison Johnstone will meet students outside Edinburgh University's George Square Library with Edinburgh Young Greens convener Dominic Hinde distributing leaflets encouraging students to back them with their second vote.

The latest TNS-BMRB poll put Alex Salmond on course to form the second SNP Scottish government. The survey puts the party 18 points clear of nearest challengers Labour in the constituency vote and 13 points ahead in the regional vote.

MSPs have responsibility for matters including health, education and law. Other issues such as foreign policy and defence remain reserved to MPs at Westminster in London.