Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond announced today that the Independence Referendum would be held on 18th September 2014. Three and a half years of preparation and campaigning will come to an end and Scotland will decide whether its future lies within the UK or out of it. At the moment, the polls are looking pretty good for staying in the Union, but that is no cause for complacency. Every vote will have to be fought for across the whole country. It will be a very different sort of campaign.
You would think, wouldn’t you, that when you were deciding on a date like that, you would check out that there was nothing else going on at the time? Like a major party political conference, for example. My first reaction when I heard the date was “When’s Federal Conference?” Sal Brinton confirmed on Twitter that it’s expected to be in Liverpool from 13-17 September.
Faced with that choice, Scots will have to stay in Scotland but that is not without its problems. Someone pointed out on Twitter that there could be election expenses implications if anyone mentions the Referendum publicly at the Conference. And will the Nationalists make a fuss if the BBC covers any of the Conference in Scotland? It will mean that Scottish Liberal Democrats don’t get to vote on the elements of the Manifesto for the 2015 election which will no doubt contain plans for further powers for the Scottish Parliament after a “no” vote. It is far from ideal and probably a lot more complicated than we yet realise.
It is pretty disrespectful on the part of the SNP not to have considered this. They might not think some conference in England is important, but the fact is that many Scots have strong ties south of the Border and these things do matter to them.
It’s unlikely that the Referendum date will change, especially as the SNP Government has an overall majority at Holyrood. Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Labour conferences are always held back to back and are agreed years in advance and venues secured. Whether they meant to or not, the net result is that the SNP has created some inconvenience for our party. We’ll sort it out, but it’s annoying that we have been put in this position.
We will just get on with it, but it’s worth pointing out that if we had done this to the SNP, they would have been in every single television studio squealing outrage.
The most important thing, though, is that we get the issues properly debated. It’s really important to show that being part of the UK really does give Scotland the best of both worlds. We know that Alex Salmond has been irresponsibly vague on whether he had legal advice on Scotland’s future EU membership. We’ve had a leaked report by the Finance Minister which suggests uncertainty over Scotland’s future oil revenues being over-ridden days later by the First Minster proclaiming that there would be an oil boom as I told you last week. If they carry on like this, there’ll be more truth in Grimm’s Fairy Tales than in the Yes Scotland manifesto come the referendum.
Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore told Scottish Conference this weekend that the SNP had deliberately twisted facts to suit their case, that they had chosen Independence Day even before they had announced the day we’d have to make our choice. The SNP claim that, in the event of a Yes vote they will be able to have all the arrangements for independence finalised by March 2016. That will involve getting all 27 EU member states to agree to admit an independent Scotland and would require speedier negotiations than the EU has ever shown itself capable of. If they are going to do it that quickly, what are they prepared to sacrifice in our name? Today, as the date was announced, Moore had this to say:
I am glad people in Scotland have now been told the proposed date for the referendum.The debate about Scotland’s future has already begun and will only intensify, and that is something I look forward to.I am confident when Scots go to the polls they will vote in favour of Scotland staying within a strong and secure UK family.
I shall be doing all I possibly can to make sure that they do just that.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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22 Comments
I don’t understand your surprise, why do you imagine for a second the SNP would chose a date that was convenient for its opponents?
This is another excellent reason why conference needs be brought into the internet age, with people having the ability to attend , speak and vote remotely : otherwise Scottish delegates will be deprived of the opportunity to vote on some key issues.
Caron – I realise that politics is about getting outcomes, but it is right that nations can self-determine, and at least the SNP permitted the question to be asked. I very much doubt that the LD conference even crossed their minds.
Simon – absolutely agree, the party needs to modernise its internal democracy with great urgency.
Am sure Caron is being perfectly serious, but come on, just how ridiculous does this make the LibDems look.
LOL
Agreed Kevin. Yet another thing to make us look ridiculous. I can’t imagine the date has been deliberately selected to coincide with our conference. I’d guess if such thinking had entered the SNP’s minds as a tactic to keep a few no voters away, they’d have been better timing the vote to coincide with Labour conference.
The SNP have other things on their minds than Lib Dem conference, however important those days in Liverpool seem to us. I am intrigued by your quote: “My first reaction when I heard the date was ‘When’s Federal Conference?”'”. Now, if a fantastically committed Liberal Democrat like Caron didn’t have the dates for federal conference in her diary, why would Alex Salmond?
“Scots will have to say in Scotland”. Maybe, unless they use the next 18 months to register for a postal vote.
As for a day when there is “nothing else going on at the time”…erm, that would be pretty difficult if not impossible. Haven’t the turnouts and results of previous General Elections been attributed to sports fixtures, for example?
Is it too late to morve the federal conference?
Your conference is on 13-17 September? Why can’t you just head back north on the 18th and vote? What’s the problem?
And why would the SNP be any more likely than any other party to squeal? Is this article not just a squeal?…
I quote: ” The most important thing, though, is that we get the issues properly debated.”
When will the LibDems actually start participating in a proper debate? There’s no sign of any engagment to date, nor any sign of willingness to separate the facts from pro-union propaganda. Well, when will you debate properly, honestly & fairly?
“Your conference is on 13-17 September? Why can’t you just head back north on the 18th and vote? What’s the problem?”
Apparently Liverpool is located somewhere in rural China.
Oh dear. This has to be one of the worst arguments (in an increasingly large array) against independence.
Come on Caron – you need to better than this.
Apart from the fact that it’ll be extremely difficult for the BBC to report anything from the conference that relates to independence referendum, it will surely also mean coverage of the conference in general is restricted to an absolute minimum because something much more interesting is going on north of the border.
I’m not a LibDem member any more (I joined the SNP instead two years ago, and I’m much happier now), so it’s none of my business, but I would recommend trying to move conference forward by a bit, even though it’s annoying and inconvenient.
Wow, file this article alongside the Press & Journal’s mythical “North East Man Dies At Sea” Titanic story, I think…
Three excellent suggestions from commenters here to get around the problem:
1. Register for a postal vote (I did this for the 2011 election as I was offshore at the time – and conference dates are far more reliable and known much further in advance than offshore shifts)
2. Travel back on the 17th/18th (border posts and armed sentries to stop an influx of austerity-fleeing English refugees won’t get put in place until the next day) (That’s a joke, incidentally)
3. Lib Dems can move the conference. It’s 18 months away, I’d be very surprised if the venue was already booked.
After all, a one-off referendum to decide the independence of a nation of 5.2 million people is a BIT more important than an annual conference that is of interest to, what, 3,000 people at most?
So somebody heard on Twitter that your conference is “expected” to be held the previous week? You seriously expect the SNP to know that when you yourselves do not? Perhaps you could blame the SNP for the earth being round instead of flat, as you would obviously prefer it to be.
Move Conference to Glasgow?
I’m sure any date would have clashed with on e event or another, and let’s face it, a convention of upholsters would have higher attendance than there are lib dems in scotland.
If you care about Scotland then you’ll either have to reschedule or miss it. Somethings are more important than small meetings of political activists.
I don’t get it either. The referendum *doesn’t* clash with your conference, as has been pointed out above, so what exactly is the problem? Or is it that you won’t be able to spend the five preceding days stuffing yellow-themed leaflets through people’s letterboxes? The long-suffering citizens of Scotland might actually breathe a wee sigh of relief at that…
Don’t you have postal votes in Scotland?
I suspect actual LibDem members form Scotland want to be campaigning there in the run-up to the referendum, and providing representetation at the count afterwards, so it’s not just a question of voting on polling day.
Caron, do you realise how ludicrous and other-worldy your complaint sounds to those who are not LibDem voters (and judging by some of the other comments, some who are)? A head shaking moment.
Ammh, a referendum should be more important than a party conference.
Is the number of delegates to the party conference going to be so large that the future of Scotland will hinge around their votes? Surely, not…
Can one of the many commenters on this and other posts explain to me why every single reference to the independence referendum has to be a work to rival the Rights Of Man? I for one find it very helpful to have Caron keeping us up to date on the day-to-day, practical, newsy items surrounding the vote, and it’s never occurred to me for a second that that would prevent proper, honest and fair debate on the issues (because the wonderful thing about a blog is that you can write another post, and another, and another…) but apparently I’m in a minority…
The following is from Brian Taylor on the BBC web site on why (among other reasons) the date was chosen
“18 September means avoiding the UK party conference season in late September/early October.
These would have been dominated by anti-independence messages. “