[0762]

Now listen to this story emanating from the House of Lords. An unelected Tory, Lord Cormack, tabled a private members' bill, the Referendums Criteria Bill, in the House of Commons last week. It now awaits a second reading. What this undemocratic clown proposes is that before any referendum is held in the UK, each House of Parliament must pass a motion agreeing to it and, in the event of a division, the majority of MPs and Lords in favour must be at least two thirds of those who vote. If a referendum clears that hurdle, the number of people who vote in it must be equal to, or greater than, 55% of those on the electoral register. However, for it to be accepted, the number who vote in favour must be at least 60% of those who vote in the referendum. Remember the dev referendum of 1979 anybody???? An amendment to the Scotland Act 1978 from a Fife born Labour unionist, Cunningham, that decreed majority support for a devolved assembly would have to be at least 40% of Scotland's electorate. The Yes vote on that occasion was 32.9% and the move failed!!!! Also I recall that in the 1979 referendum, what effectively happened was a zombie electorate comprised part of the No vote - people who were not alive were deemed to have voted no - an element of the 40% rule was that people who were dead effectively were voting against a devolved assembly. I'd be astonished if Cormack's bill actually went anywhere but it does show how some Tories are thinking re this constitutional crisis - desperate measures to gerrymander a referendum are exactly what we would expect from the Westminster establishment TBF! Any rules and power to hold a Scot referendum should lie with the Scottish people and the parliament that they voted for and f### this abuse of power and the constitution itself!!