Analysis: MPs have thrown down gauntlet – how will SNP respond?

THE fairness or wording of the question in the 2014 independence referendum is not going to be decided by the Scottish affairs select committee, for its influence in the devolution era is much diminished.

But, even so, its unequivocal and cogently argued report is a well-judged contribution to an ongoing debate.

Its message is clear: the question currently preferred by the Scottish Government is “biased” and therefore not acceptable.

Usefully, the MPs have evidence to back it up. No-one who gave evidence to their inquiry thought the SNP’s plan to set the question, the timing and the rules was either acceptable or fair.

Rather, the Electoral Commission was the committee’s unanimous choice to oversee the process.

In one respect, the UK government is less worried about the wording of the referendum question than it is about the number of questions there might be on the ballot paper. The main prize as far as the Prime Minister is concerned is securing just one – a straight yes/no on whether or not Scotland should become independent. Beyond that, ministers are relatively relaxed about the wording.

As a number of witnesses pointed out in their evidence, a referendum is not the same as an opinion poll.

Even a “biased” question might not matter so much at the end of a referendum campaign when voters will have heard all the arguments.

However it is worded, voters will realise they’re voting “yes” or “no” to Scotland becoming independent.

Although the committee accepts this point, it still believes the question has to be perceived as “fair” throughout the process, whatever the likely impact.

As committee chairman Ian Davidson put it: “We cannot have a contest in which separatists are both player and referee. That goes against every notion of fairness and transparency.”

The Nationalists, however, will probably argue that it’s the unionist parties that are trying to “rig” the referendum. After all, they’ll point out, they have an overwhelming democratic mandate which gives them the moral authority to set the parameters of the ballot, if not the legal right.

And, by urging a consensual approach to the wording of the question, the committee is challenging the SNP to opt out of that process.

To be fair, the Scottish Government has already accepted the Electoral Commission ought to have a role, just not in terms of setting the question.

This report might end up playing a small role in making that position unsustainable.

• David Torrance is a political commentator and biographer of Alex Salmond.