A WRITTEN UK constitution should provide a mechanism for Scotland to trigger an independence referendum, but federalism could keep the Union together, an author has said.
David Kauders, an investment manager who has written a book on overhauling British politics, told the Sunday National that there should be a procedure for the public to put issues on the agenda, outwith Westminster’s control, but with a “threshold subject to the level of interest”.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said that his plans for further devolution strengthen the case for a written constitution for the UK. Burnham did not set out explicit details of what this would look like, but the SNP have argued that any codified constitution would be “fundamentally flawed” if it didn’t contain a route out of the Union.
SNP Westminster leader Dave Doogan said last week: “Andy Burnham is right to say Westminster has hoarded too much power and he is right to raise the question of where power lies in these islands, but he will never address the answer to that question by denying democracy to the Scottish people.”
Plaid Cymru also agreed that any “decisions on Wales's political and constitutional future belong to the people of Wales, and this must be a foundational principle to any future codified constitution."
And, former first minister Nicola Sturgeon said in the foreword to the paperback version of her memoir, Frankly, that there should be an “agreement on the objective conditions which would trigger a referendum”.
Sturgeon pointed to the Irish border poll, adding that what that looks like in Scotland would “need debate”, and possibly for independence to “remain at a specified level for a set period of time”.
Last month, Europe, External Affairs and Energy Minister Stephen Gethins said Scotland would benefit from a Good Friday-style agreement to break from the Union.
It comes in the face of repeated refusal from Westminster to grant a Section 30 order on independence. After the Holyrood 2026 election, where voters elected a record pro-independence majority to the Scottish Parliament, MSPs voted to request a referendum from the UK Government. Their refusal was swift, less than 15 minutes after the votes were confirmed.
As it stands, the UK’s constitution is uncodified, existing across a series of sources including statute law, common law, and unwritten conventions.
Kauders, who has written a draft constitution for the UK in his book Reinventing Democracy: Improving British Political Governance, told the Sunday National that a codified route to a referendum as part of a federal UK would stop “England from treating Scotland like a colony”.
“I can see the frustration that the Scots meet dealing with the English establishment,” he said.
Kauders added: “If you look at the strategic problem of Scottish independence, Scotland is frustrated with England dictating, and most of those seem to be swept away if the UK became just a defence, foreign affairs, currency, and common standards Union. That leaves vast amounts of everything else to the nations.”
This is essentially devo max – a form of devolution that has been frequently touted by various politicians over the years, most notably former prime minister Gordon Brown, but has never come to fruition.
Describing the current devolution settlement across the UK as Westminster “giving crumbs from the high table”, he added: “If you look at the situation we're in now, unless there is a change of the course of events, the United Kingdom will break up.”
Kauders believes that a written constitution would keep the UK together, but still argues that it should have a mechanism for any nation to leave if it chooses to do so.
“The United Kingdom will break up if nothing is done,” he said. “And the only thing that can be done to keep it together is a completely federal state with clearly defined powers and strip away the whole England knows best nonsense.”
He added: “If you have a federal state where everything else becomes a matter of national policy, then Scotland would be pro-people, progressive, forward-looking. England would be the people in the corner, regressive, backward-looking. They are very different nations indeed, and those Cantons co-exist in Switzerland quite happily.”
By replacing the “autocratic” Privy Council and House of Lords with a People’s Council, a Scottish independence referendum could be requested if 10% of the electorate backed it, he argued.
Scotland would likely need support from Wales and Northern Ireland under this hypothetical scenario, but Kauders added: “That should be possible, given the signs of a Celtic union appearing already.”
He pointed to the Brexit referendum as a prime example of why 50% of the electorate should agree to a “fundamental issue” such as independence, noting that the SNP had tried to push for all four nations to be in agreement before leaving the European Union, an attempt that was struck down in the House of Commons by the then-Tory government majority.
“That’s an example of a very badly designed referendum indeed,” Kauders added.
