Parliamentary Search

Proceeding contribution from Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative) in the House of Lords on Thursday, 26 January 2012. It occurred during Committee of the Whole House (HL) and Debate on bill on Scotland Bill.

Scotland Bill

I apologise for interrupting the noble Lord, who is being very generous, but we have just had a referendum on AV which I criticised in this House because, in fairness, it was a binding referendum. It is not true to say that every referendum has been consultative. The difficulty with Alex Salmond’s referendum is that it is simply consultative, but we need to resolve this matter. For example, the Royal Bank of Scotland would not be able to operate in an independent Scotland and if we are going to draw this out till 2016, what is going to happen to the security of our jobs and so on? We need to resolve this one way or the other; that is the criticism. On the point of the question, could the noble Lord, as the spokesman in this place for Alex Salmond, help me? Why is he refusing to agree that that question, which the noble Lord says is fair, should be looked at and determined by the Electoral Commission?

Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
734 c1170 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Devolved matters Constituencies Administration Age Devolution Elections Legislative competence Legislation Electoral systems Fixed-term parliaments Dual mandate Ministerial powers Powers Members Referendums Ministers Parliamentary session Scotland Voting rights Scottish Parliament Supreme Court Scottish National Party Independent members Reserved matters Legislative consent motions Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
Legislation
Scotland Bill 2010-12
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk