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Scotland Act 1998

The national conversation will go to the Scottish Parliament. Already we have had many significant and notable contributions: a succession of Labour former Ministers, Labour Members of the European Parliament and current Labour Members of Parliament have added to the national conversation in the past few days. The hon. Member for Midlothian (Mr. Hamilton), who is in his place now, said:"““We should have a referendum sooner, rather than later.””" The hon. Member for Glasgow, North-West (John Robertson) said:"““We should go for it now, get this out of the way and then focus on the issues that matter.””" The hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty), who wanted to attend the debate, but could not, said Labour"““should not be afraid of a referendum””" and that"““the independence option should have been put to the people at the time of the devolution referendum””." I could not agree more. Welcome to the club. The national conversation has got everybody speaking.