Comment | Read Comments (4)

The organisers of the Constitutional Commission are claiming a major coup in attracting the support of Baroness Helena Kennedy, the leading QC who chaired the Power Inquiry into political participation.

John Drummond, who along with Canon Kenyon Wright was one of the founders of the commission, which aims to ensure that future reform of the way Scotland is governed is driven by its citizens, said they had also received support from the former Labour politician John McAllion and the writer William McIlvanney.

Baroness Kennedy, whose report Power to the People last year spoke of the need to "save British democracy from meltdown", said in a note to Canon Wright: "I support the Constitutional Commission. I am always enthusiastic about efforts to engage people in the political processes."

Mr Drummond stressed that the commission was non-partisan and, crucially in view of the events which will unfold after Thursday, was "open-minded about whether the future should involve stronger devolution or independence".

He said: "It is not cut and dried but much more fluid. None of us is in a position to pre-judge what will be decided by the Scottish people, but I think it makes sense for a future Scottish constitution to be drafted essentially by the people and then put to the politicians, rather than the other way around. It has really got nothing to do with party politics and everything to do with a country based on how its people think about themselves. We have to figure out what our constitutional backdrop is, and it is eminently sensible for a group of concerned citizens to try to pin this down."

The commission has four aims: to ensure that proposals for Scottish constitutional change are fully debated and decided in Scotland; to look at how the Power Inquiry's proposals for more participative government could be implemented in Scotland; to clarify the constitutional implications of various future relationships within the UK; and to prepare a draft Scottish constitution.

Mr Drummond said: "If Scotland is to have a written constitution, the Scottish principle that sovereignty resides with the people implies that it should be the people of Scotland who decide what it should contain, rather than a parliament or politicians. Similarly, it should be the people of Scotland who decide what relationship they want with England."

12:01am Monday 30th April 2007

Print

Email this

Comment

Report this post

Name:
Email:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Your reason: * Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:

* Use this form to report a comment that is obscene, defamatory, racially offensive, unlawful, abusive or threatening. Do not use this form to report differences of opinion. Read our terms and conditions.
** To avoid register now or login