Extra powers needed for question, says McBride

ONE of Scotland’s leading lawyers has warned that the SNP would find it “very difficult” to propose a straight-forward question to Scots on independence without getting extra powers from Westminster permitting it to change the UK constitution.

As the legal rows over the referendum continue, Paul McBride QC said he believed the Scottish Government was entitled to hold an “advisory” referendum, designed to canvass voters’ views. But he said it would be far harder for it to ask outright whether Scots wanted independence in a clear way, as it would breach the parliament’s remit.

A former adviser to the Tories, Mr McBride’s views were quoted by Alex Salmond yesterday, who noted how he had declared he was “absolutely satisfied” the Scottish Government had the power to hold a referendum.

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Mr McBride said: “What he is fairly entitled to do is to hold an advisory question that may not be legally binding. But the constitution is reserved to Westminster and if the proposals were aimed at altering the constitution of the country then that would be a matter for Westminster. It is very difficult to have a straight-forward question – like ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”

Scottish Secretary Michael Moore has proposed transferring powers to Holyrood to ensure a straight “yes-no” question can be asked. He said the UK government’s view was that Holyrood had no power to hold any form of referendum.