SNP defends independence referendum against 'rigging' claims

Published on Monday 22 February 2010 15:25

A SENIOR Scottish Government minister today hit back at claims the SNP administration was trying to "rig" a proposed independence referendum.

• Mr Russell said the proposed Commission would be independent

Education Secretary Mike Russell insisted that setting up a new body to oversee such a poll was the "normal thing to do".

Labour hit out after it emerged at the weekend that Scottish ministers want to set up a special body to regulate the independence referendum.

The creation of a Scottish Referendum Commission to oversee a future poll was discussed at a meeting of Government officials and members of elections watchdog the Electoral Commission.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information showed the Electoral Commission had warned the proposed new body could face "difficulties" if the referendum is to be held on November 30 – as has been speculated.

Pauline McNeill, Labour's constitution spokeswoman, claimed the idea that the existing Electoral Commission would not be used to regulate the referendum "actually beggars belief".

Ms McNeill told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "It's like ordering the referee off the pitch. They would set up a new body which is untried, untested under their control.

"Quite clearly it is an attempt to rig any question so they would have control over the referendum."

She added: "If you were going to run a referendum of this kind, which is about Scotland's future, then I think in all fairness you would have to ask the Electoral Commission, as the body which is tried and tested and trusted."

But Mr Russell told the same programme that the Electoral Commission was a Westminster body and argued: "Why would you go to a Westminster body to regulate a particular Scottish referendum?"

He stressed the proposed Scottish Referendum Commission would be responsible to the Scottish Parliament, not to ministers.

Mr Russell said the new Commission would be an "independent body, just as the Electoral Commission in England is independent and reports to the Westminster Parliament".

He also said a specific body had been set up to oversee the devolution referendum in 1999, stating: "There is a precedent for this, there was an independent Scottish body set up by the parties for the 1999 election."

He continued: "The reality is that to have the best procedures in the world, the normal thing to do is to set up an independent commission responsible to a parliament, not to a government. That is what will be proposed."

The Scottish Government is due to publish its draft referendum Bill within the next few days.

However, with Labour, Tories and the Liberal Democrats all opposed to a referendum, the minority SNP administration lacks the necessary support to get its Bill through Holyrood.

Mr Russell said: "These regulations will be free, fair and of international standard. I would actually say these regulations will produce one of the best and fairest regulated referenda ever held in the world. Now I'd like to see it take place."

Mike Rumbles, the Liberal Democrat chief whip, also criticised the SNP proposals and said: "The only body with a track record in this area is the Electoral Commission.

"If the SNP want to hand the constitutional future of Scotland to a different organisation, they need to explain why."

Mr Rumbles added: "In the absence of this explanation, we have to conclude they wish to change the status quo for political advantage.

"This looks like a political fix with the SNP not just trying to fix the election, but its outcome too."