Wendy gaffe 'holed referendum plan'

Published on Saturday 17 May 2008 19:38

WENDY Alexander's demand for an early referendum on Scottish independence two weeks ago holed a secret plan being drafted by UK Labour chiefs to trigger a vote on the matter as early as this winter, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

Detailed proposals were being drawn up in Whitehall to put forward a Scottish referendum bill in the House of Commons which would have led to a quick vote on the future of the country.

Gordon Brown is understood to have been considering the plan, but it was ruled out after Alexander made a chaotic U-turn, forcing the Prime Minister to disassociate the party from such a scheme.

However, a senior Whitehall source said that ministers were "highly likely" to have gone ahead with a referendum later this year.

The secret plans offer a further explanation for the cold fury in the UK Labour party which greeted Alexander's unexpected call for a referendum on independence two weeks ago. By calling on Salmond to bring forward his own bill – and, at one point, threatening to even bring her own bill forward at Holyrood – she effectively declared that it was Labour policy that a referendum should be organised at Holyrood, and not Westminster.

Labour's plan until then had been to organise a referendum at Westminster where it could have controlled the timing and the wording of the question put to the people. Labour sources point out that as the Constitution is a reserved matter, it should be Westminster which organises the vote, and not Holyrood. They also point out that, with Labour having a majority at Westminster, a bill proposing a referendum could have been passed "within weeks", thereby ensuring that the matter could have been dealt with quickly.

But even supporters of the secret plan now concede that there is no chance they can act, after Brown was forced to deny that there were any plans for a referendum at either Westminster or Holyrood, when put under pressure over the matter last week by Tory leader David Cameron.

One insider said: "Had it not been for Wendy's intervention, I think it (an early referendum] would have happened. The trouble is that Wendy had now effectively conceded that the matter is for Holyrood to decide even though that's wrong. The Constitution is reserved to Westminster. But the plan is now dead in the water."

Alexander's aides are insisting that her support for the principle of a referendum will eventually win support.

On claims that Alexander's backing had holed plans for a Westminster-organised poll, a spokesman declined to comment.