Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Monday, October 15th, 2012

Cameron and Salmond to Sign Deal on Scottish Independence Referendum

Author:     SEVERIN CARRELL
Source:     The Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     Sunday 14 October 2012 17.03 BST
 Link: Cameron and Salmond to Sign Deal on Scottish Independence Referendum
Stephan:   This is an historic vote which will have implications far beyond the U.K. Personally, I think it is a mistake to break up the U.K.. In my view it would leave both England and Scotland weaker, and less able to deal with the real geopolitical issue of the day, the rise of the Virtual Corporate State. This is the dying gasp of nationalism, promulgated by a small group of men who stand to profit from it. The truth is nationalism itself is increasingly an outmoded model.

David Cameron is to sign a historic deal with Alex Salmond to hold a legally watertight referendum on Scottish independence, signalling the start of a 100-week battle over the UK’s constitutional future.

The prime minister will fly to Scotland on Monday to settle the terms of a Scotland-wide referendum, expected to be held in autumn 2014, by publishing a 35-clause long deal with the first minister that is already being dubbed the ‘Edinburgh agreement’ by Salmond officials.

With disputes over legal limits to campaign spending still yet to be solved, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s deputy first minister, said on Sunday that the deal would allow all the key elements of the referendum to be ‘made in Scotland’.

After months of negotiations, it would allow both sides to properly begin making the choices clear to voters. Speaking on BBC1, Sturgeon said ‘it will be for the Scottish parliament to decide the date, the question, the franchise, for the referendum’.

Sturgeon signalled that a core message for the nationalists will be to portray their main opponents, the Scottish Labour party, as allies of the Tory government in London after Labour began questioning the costs to Scotland of free university tuition, free prescriptions and the council tax freeze.

‘We […]

Read the Full Article