Maybe Lib dems don't want to know what the people think!
Sir,
I am pleased that the leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Glasgow City Council has attempted to answer the question of why the Liberal Democrats were willing to do a coalition deal with Labour and not with the SNP (14/05), however his letter does not effectively explain their absolute opposition to a referendum on independence.
It would be perfectly reasonable for the Liberal Democrats to maintain their support for a federal UK while supporting a referendum on independence, after all a referendum is simply a choice.
If the Liberal Democrats still support the Claim of Right document for Scotland which they signed up to during the devolution debate, then they must logically subscribe to the position that the Scottish people have a sovereign right to choose their own political destiny.
During the election campaign a poll by the Daily Telegraph specifically asked the following question: There has been much debate on whether Scotland should be independent. The SNP has proposed calling a referendum on this issue. Leaving aside your own views on whether or not Scotland should be independent, would you support or oppose a referendum being being held on this issue?
I support holding a referendum on independence 60%
I oppose holding such a referendum 28 %
Don’t know 12 %
Since the vast majority of the Scottish population seem to support holding a referendum on independence, any democrat, whether they are a unionist or not should be willing to ask the public their opinion on the future of their country.
Those who are unwilling to do so can make any excuse they like, but the suspicion must remain that the only reason they don't want the question to be asked is because they also don't think they will like the answer.
Joe Middleton
Press Officer
Independence First
www.independence1st.com
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No mandate for an independence referendum
I have been a member of the Liberal Party since 1962 and I have no difficulty in supporting the Liberal Democrat MSPs' position on coalition with the SNP.
As I understand it, Alex Salmond invited the Liberal Democrats to discuss joining a government which would be committed to preparing a white paper on independence and to putting a Bill before parliament to provide for a referendum on the issue. If discussions had led to the formation of a coalition government on those terms, all the Liberal Democrat ministers would have been bound by collective responsibility to support the white paper and the Bill, and Liberal Democrat MSPs would have been expected to vote for the Bill in parliament.
The Liberal Democrats are a federalist party, not a separatist one. Why is it supposed that Liberal Democrats have some kind of moral duty to support an important policy to which they are opposed? And can anyone explain why the Liberal Democrats have that duty, but not the Labour or Conservative parties? Or why the Liberal Democrats ought to have wasted everybody's time by discussing a coalition that was not going to happen so long as Mr Salmond insisted (as was his right) that his government's programme must include a commitment to his policy on a referendum?
The thing that astonishes me is that there has been so little public discussion of the soundness of Mr Salmond's decision, before the election campaign started, to insist that any government led by him must be committed to a referendum. What was the point of the policy? If the election had resulted in a parliamentary majority for the pro-independence parties, why would the new Scottish government have needed a referendum before starting independence talks with Westminster? But as things have turned out, the referendum was a big issue in the election and the Scottish voters elected a parliament with a clear majority of members opposed to a referendum. The election results, and opinion polls, also show that a clear majority of Scottish voters are opposed to independence. So how is it that the SNP strategy for achieving independence still kicks off with a referendum Bill, which would not be passed by parliament, leading to a referendum that the SNP would lose? Perhaps some long-term member of the SNP, such as Mr Salmond, could give us the answers to these questions.
Christopher Mason, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Glasgow City Council.
