Willie Rennie attacks bishops over gay marriage

THE Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie yesterday launched a scathing attack on Catholic bishops for seeking to “impose” their views against same-sex marriage on ordinary members of the Church.

In his first speech to the Scottish Lib Dem conference as leader, Rennie said he would challenge the Catholic hierarchy, which has been outspoken in its criticism of gay marriage.

Rennie said he had the “utmost respect” for the work of the Catholic Church “in so many ways”, but he said the recent furore over the SNP’s consultation on homosexual marriage was “unacceptable”.

Last week, Bishop of Paisley Philip Tartaglia wrote to Alex Salmond warning the First Minister of his “misgivings” about the consultation, saying it would result in a “serious chill” between the Scottish Government and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Rennie said the Church’s behaviour, seen as an attempt to sway Catholics against gay marriage, was an “affront”.

“What is unacceptable to liberals is the control that some leaders of the Catholic Church are seeking to exert over the people of the Catholic faith,” Rennie said. “To threaten to invoke some sort of block vote is an affront to liberal democracy and one that we must challenge. Many individual Catholics have told me they will not be following their leaders against the issue of equality for same-sex marriage.

“We are not imposing anything on the Church, so what I find difficult is that they want to impose on everyone else. A liberal Scotland is where everyone can have their own freedom of thought and belief.”

Speaking to around 300 delegates at the Vine Venue in Dunfermline, Rennie said six in ten people supported gay marriage. “So to threaten politicians with the votes of 800,000 people of the Catholic faith may backfire on the Church,” he added.

Rennie also delivered a broadside against the SNP’s “creeping, political control”. He referred to the recent row that has seen Scotland’s most senior civil servant Sir Peter Housden accused of acting partially and also claimed government agencies were being used to “make a party-political case for the ruling party”.

The Scottish Lib Dem leader added that there was “intimidation of business and charities” to adopt the SNP government’s “view of the world”.

“This is a sinister development that threatens and gives an insight into what an independent Scotland may look like – and it isn’t pretty,” he said. He called on his party to reclaim the initiative on constitutional change with the establishment of a Home Rule Commission.

“The independence that we’re interested in is for the individual, not for nationhood,” he said. “Every minute you spend on promoting nation is a minute you can’t spend on promoting people.”

There was also stinging criticism of SNP’s justice secretary Kenny MacAskill, with Rennie comparing his attempt to dominate policing to Michael Howard’s tenure as a Conservative home secretary in the 1990s.

The Scottish Government’s plans for policing would see MacAskill take control of police authority appointments, budgets, chief police officer appointments and approving the policing plan, Rennie said. Rennie’s comparison looked back to Howard’s attempt to ensure that he had control over selecting chairmen of new police authorities in 1994, which was defeated in the Lords.

Rennie said: “For the SNP to adopt failed Michael Howard policies from the 90s shows how there is ‘something of the night’ about them and just how illiberal they have become.”