Rennie opens door to work with SNP

THE Liberal Democrats will today open the door to working with the Scottish National Party to deliver more powers to Holyrood if Scotland votes to remain in the United Kingdom.

In his closing speech to the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference in Inverness, the party’s Scottish leader Willie Rennie will pledge to make his party the “guarantors of change” after the referendum.

He will point to comments from leading figures in other parties, including Prime Minister David Cameron and former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling, and say this “paves the way for agreement on more powers for Scotland”. He will also open up the possibility of working with the SNP, after a no vote, to deliver “a stronger Scottish Parliament”.

Rennie will say: “Other parties might say they want home rule but they are only taking their first, hesitant, infant steps. We will need to be the ones who bring people together and bring people along. We will be the guarantors of change. We have wanted home rule for 100 years.”