Scottish independence: Michael Moore sets out stall on home rule

SCOTTISH Secretary Michael Moore yesterday said a stronger devolved Scottish Parliament was the alternative to an independent Scotland in an address to the Lib Dem conference yesterday.

Moore claimed the electorate faced a choice between the Lib Dem’s home rule policy, which would see more powers devolved to Scotland, and outright independence.

At the party’s autumn conference in Dunfermline, the Scottish Secretary said the home rule policy recently outlined by Sir Menzies Campbell was the “first choice” for Scottish voters.

“The message is clear: vote Liberal Democrat, extend devolution; vote SNP, end it altogether,” Moore said.

Campbell, who chaired a commission into the policy, said home rule meant “Scotland can have the best of both worlds without the conflict of interests”.

He added: “We have been first out of the blocks with our proposals for Scotland.”

Campbell’s vision of a federal Britain was endorsed by delegates and received the backing of another former leader of the UK Lib Dem party. Charles Kennedy said: “Our concept of federalism throughout this whole debate is going to be critical.

“We’ve got a document – a well written, readable, consistent, coherent document – with which we can say ‘that is what we are arguing for’.”

Earlier this month, Campbell’s Home Rule Commission reported its findings and argued that the UK constitution was “unsustainable” and risks tearing the country apart, unless it adopts a federal system. Campbell concluded that a declaration of federal union was the only way to combat UK regional inequalities.

Earlier, Campbell and Kennedy attacked the SNP and its record in the referendum campaign so far. Campbell said the First Minister had “not told the whole truth and nothing but the truth” over the European Union.

“He allowed us to believe that he had legal advice, that that advice was favourable and he spent public money defending the indefensible,” he said.

Kennedy, who will play a key part in the Better Together campaign against independence, likened Alex Salmond’s statements on the EU row this week to “the death of a salesman”. He said: “This week, dramatically, we have seen the weaknesses in the independence argument.

“Last weekend, we heard the contradictions on [the SNP’s] stance on Nato. It simply doesn’t add up.”

Meanwhile, Moore called for an “honest debate” on independence, as he told Liberal Democrats that the UK government will “flush out the facts and figures and put them up in lights”.

The Scottish Government admitted this week that no specific legal advice was taken on entry to the European Union in the event of a vote for independence. The revelation followed concerted criticism from opposition parties about the SNP’s attempts to keep the information under wraps.

Moore told delegates: “The SNP has been clear that 
the Scottish Parliament must be trusted to run this referendum. And that’s what we want, too. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

“Just this week, the SNP got a taste of what happens when politicians play fast and loose with Scotland’s future to meet their own narrow ends. Within the UK, Scotland benefits from membership of the European Union.

“So, it’s no surprise that Nationalists want us to believe that a separate Scotland would inherit automatic membership on present terms. But there is no firm basis for that claim.”

He went on: “We can’t have debate conducted on these terms. This referendum will present Scots with the biggest political decision that we will ever take.

“On all the big issues – the future of our economy, the strength of our defences, our role in the world – people in this country have a right to know the facts. They have a right to know what independence really means for them, their family, their community – our nation.

“There is no automatic entry to the EU, or Nato. There is no sterling zone or national seat on the monetary policy committee. There is no Scottish reserve that could bail out the banks in the way that the Treasury did.

“The Nationalists say that they want a positive campaign, but to get there, first they must set aside the assertions and begin to embrace reality. For our part, that is something that the UK government is already doing.”

Moore added: “But no government has ever gone far enough to explain exactly why. So we need to flush out the facts and figures and put them up in lights. And over the coming months that is exactly what we will do.”