Britain to offer Scotland vote for binding independence
Source: Agencies |
January 11, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BREAKING up is supposed to be hard to do - but Britain's government confirmed yesterday it will offer Scotland the powers it needs to sever centuries-old ties to England.
Prime Minister David Cameron's government said it would sweep away legal hurdles to allow the Scots a vote on whether their country should become independent for the first time since the 18th Century Act of Union, which united Scotland with England to create Great Britain.
But in return, Cameron - who opposes any breakup of the United Kingdom, which also includes Wales and Northern Ireland - is urging Scotland to make its intentions clear "sooner rather than later." He claims investors are becoming increasingly wary of Scottish leader Alex Salmond's plans to delay a vote for several years, damaging Britain's economy.
Salmond, head of Scotland's semiautonomous government, has long championed independence to allow the country greater control over lucrative oil and natural gas reserves in the North Sea.
His separatist Scottish National Party insists that winning total control over tax and spending policies - powers the Scottish government doesn't presently have - would help replicate the economic success of neighbors like Norway, which has used its energy riches to fund state pensions.
"This is a huge decision for Scotland. This is potentially the biggest decision we have made as a nation for 300 years," Salmond said yesterday, on a tour of an oil facility in Dyce, eastern Scotland.
He insisted that Cameron should not take any role in setting out the timetable for the crucial referendum.
"We are not going to be stampeded and dragooned by a Tory prime minister in London," Salmond said.
Gaining autonomy
Since Scotland voted in favor of a domestic legislative body in 1997, its parliament has had autonomy over education, health and justice and can make minor alterations to income tax. For now, London retains primacy on all matters relating to Britain as a whole - including defense, energy and foreign relations.
The other nations of the United Kingdom also have administrations with some limited powers. Wales voted for a national assembly in 1997, while the Northern Ireland Assembly was created to provide cross-community government in the province under the US-brokered Good Friday peace accord of 1998.
Salmond accuses Cameron of pushing for an early vote in Scotland in the hope of killing off any split in the United Kingdom. Both Cameron and Britain's opposition leader, the Labour Party's Ed Miliband, plan to campaign against Scottish independence.
The timing of the vote could be crucial. Recent opinion polls indicate rising support for independence, after surveys showed backing for the separation hovering at about 30 percent for several decades. Salmond hopes to hold a poll in 2014, when nationalist sentiment could peak as the Scots mark the 700th anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn, a key military victory over England.
Prime Minister David Cameron's government said it would sweep away legal hurdles to allow the Scots a vote on whether their country should become independent for the first time since the 18th Century Act of Union, which united Scotland with England to create Great Britain.
But in return, Cameron - who opposes any breakup of the United Kingdom, which also includes Wales and Northern Ireland - is urging Scotland to make its intentions clear "sooner rather than later." He claims investors are becoming increasingly wary of Scottish leader Alex Salmond's plans to delay a vote for several years, damaging Britain's economy.
Salmond, head of Scotland's semiautonomous government, has long championed independence to allow the country greater control over lucrative oil and natural gas reserves in the North Sea.
His separatist Scottish National Party insists that winning total control over tax and spending policies - powers the Scottish government doesn't presently have - would help replicate the economic success of neighbors like Norway, which has used its energy riches to fund state pensions.
"This is a huge decision for Scotland. This is potentially the biggest decision we have made as a nation for 300 years," Salmond said yesterday, on a tour of an oil facility in Dyce, eastern Scotland.
He insisted that Cameron should not take any role in setting out the timetable for the crucial referendum.
"We are not going to be stampeded and dragooned by a Tory prime minister in London," Salmond said.
Gaining autonomy
Since Scotland voted in favor of a domestic legislative body in 1997, its parliament has had autonomy over education, health and justice and can make minor alterations to income tax. For now, London retains primacy on all matters relating to Britain as a whole - including defense, energy and foreign relations.
The other nations of the United Kingdom also have administrations with some limited powers. Wales voted for a national assembly in 1997, while the Northern Ireland Assembly was created to provide cross-community government in the province under the US-brokered Good Friday peace accord of 1998.
Salmond accuses Cameron of pushing for an early vote in Scotland in the hope of killing off any split in the United Kingdom. Both Cameron and Britain's opposition leader, the Labour Party's Ed Miliband, plan to campaign against Scottish independence.
The timing of the vote could be crucial. Recent opinion polls indicate rising support for independence, after surveys showed backing for the separation hovering at about 30 percent for several decades. Salmond hopes to hold a poll in 2014, when nationalist sentiment could peak as the Scots mark the 700th anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn, a key military victory over England.
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