Scotland: Referendum

Lord McAvoy Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord McAvoy]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for repeating the Statement made in the House of Commons. As my honourable friend Margaret Curran has stated in that place, this is indeed an historic day for Scotland. We—the Labour Party—welcome the fact that an agreement has been reached and we can now start to get beyond the process. Nevertheless, there are a number of matters on which this House would like more information. These relate particularly to the franchise, the campaign finance and the wording of the question.

If votes at 16 and 17 are to be introduced, legislation should be introduced across the UK for every election so that proper scrutiny can be given to such a process, not just a one-off referendum. There are awful practical difficulties in this. Scottish Labour has estimated that as many as 54,000 16 year-olds could miss out on being able to vote, so we need clarification on how these arrangements will be made to ensure that those qualified to vote actually get the chance to vote. Has any advice been sought from the Electoral Commission on the fairness and practicality of allowing this change to be made?

On campaign finance, the Scottish Government cannot be the referee and the player. The deal is clear: the Electoral Commission will act as an independent overseer of the process, including finance and the wording of the question. No Government have overruled the Electoral Commission; the First Minister should not start. We need independent, external oversight of campaign finance from the Electoral Commission to ensure fair play. It should also be borne in mind that the Scottish Government are retaining the £1 million paid-for army of spin doctors throughout the campaign. What guarantees have the UK Government received from the Scottish Government that Electoral Commission limits and the fair rules of the UK Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act will be followed?

It is right and proper that Scotland’s trade unions and businesses should be able to have a say on an issue of this importance to our nation’s future. How does the agreement ensure that they will be given a fair chance to have their say and support the campaigns? There is another question on which many of us have been approached. Will Scots living in the rest of the UK, who will not have a vote, be able to support the campaign?

On the referendum question, we want a clear and unambiguous question that provides a fair choice for the Scottish people. Any questions should be thoroughly tested by the Electoral Commission. The agreement that has been reached by the Scottish and UK Governments allows for the Scottish Parliament to set the question in consultation with the Electoral Commission. As we all know, how a question is put can play a great part in how people respond to it, so we are looking for the UK Government, in these discussions with the Scottish Government, to seek and get these guarantees. There is a lot of discussion about detail to be entered into from the UK Government’s point of view.

Having experience in Scottish politics—as has the noble Lord, who at the very least has been an observer—I believe that we need to ensure that what is actually said on behalf of the First Minister or by the First Minister is thoroughly scrutinised and checked to make sure that what he says is what he actually means. This is clearly the most important issue facing the Scottish people. We in the Labour Party believe that our place in Scotland is within the United Kingdom, as the Minister has said, both for Scotland’s sake and for the United Kingdom’s sake. We in the Labour Party hope that the Government are competent enough to handle these negotiations and we will play our part in trying to convince the Scottish people that their future and the UK’s future are better with Scotland as part of the United Kingdom.