Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alistair Carmichael and Rory Stewart

Wednesday 7th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart (Penrith and The Border) (Con)]

1. What assessment he has made of the potential effects of Scottish independence on border parliamentary constituencies.

[The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr Alistair Carmichael)]

As a United Kingdom, we all have better job opportunities, employment and mobility. Every day, 30,000 people travel between Scotland and England for work. If Scotland were to leave the United Kingdom, our border constituencies would be the first to feel the effects of the creation of an international border.

[Rory Stewart]

Does the Secretary of State agree that one of the challenges of separation would be that our focus would be lost and our energy dissipated by looking at the details of administration and borders, rather than all the opportunities in the world, from Brazil to Indonesia?

[Mr Carmichael]

That is one of the many downsides a vote for independence would bring. It would be an unnecessary distraction that would indeed remove our focus from the opportunities that being part of the United Kingdom give us to develop Scottish business by looking overseas.