Scotland: Referendum

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock]

My Lords—

[Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean]

My Lords—

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock]

My Lords, there is a paragraph in the agreement which says that,

“the referendum should meet the highest standards of fairness, transparency and propriety”.

I have one simple little question. If, after we pass the Section 30 order, the UK Government think that the proposals do not meet the highest standards of fairness, transparency and propriety, what recourse do they have?

[Lord Strathclyde]

My Lords, I have tried to explain that the Scottish people—who, as the noble Lord knows well, are a fair-minded and educated people—will see through anything that is not fair-minded and responsible. The time has come to trust the people of Scotland. As my noble friend Lord Steel pointed out a few minutes ago, it is true that as this debate has raged in the past couple of years the opinion polls have swung in favour of maintaining the United Kingdom.