Cameron ‘won’t block Scots from 2015 election’

DOWNING Street has said that Prime Minister David Cameron will not bow to pressure from backbench Tories to ban Scottish voters from taking part in the 2015 General Election for Westminster in the event of a Yes vote for independence.

Prime Minister David Cameron. Picture: Neil Hanna

Sources close to the Prime Minister have acknowledged that he has been lobbied by Tory MPs for Scottish constituencies to be excluded from the next General Election before independence takes place if it is backed by Scottish voters on 18 September.

The admission follows a failed attempt by Scottish-born Tory Carlisle MP John Stevenson last week to introduce a bill which would have scrapped Scottish constituencies in 2015.

Concerns are being raised that Scottish MPs could end up negotiating on behalf of the rest of the UK over independence even though they were elected by people who would soon be part of a foreign country.

Tories are also worried that with just one MP north of the Border Scottish MPs could put Labour in power in 2015. So far, there has been no decision on what would happen to Scotland’s Westminster seats between parliamentary elections and March 2016, when it could become independent.

It is widely assumed that elections would continue as usual but Scottish MPs would then vacate their seats when links are severed. Tories believe it would be unacceptable, however, for them to hold their seats while London and Edinburgh were negotiating the break-up of the UK

Mr Stevenson said: “You can’t have a situation where the government of the United Kingdom is determined by the representation from Scotland, which could then have significant influence in the subsequent negotiations.”