For immediate release 14 August 2007
STUC Comment on Independence White Paper
Commenting following the publication of the Scottish Executive White Paper “Choosing Scotland’s Future”, STUC General Secretary, Grahame Smith, said:
“The STUC is clear that an independence referendum is a distraction. However, it is significant that, for the first time, all of Scotland’s political parties are committed to examining the powers of the Scottish Parliament with a view to improving the stability and effectiveness of devolved government in Scotland.
“I am pleased to welcome both the SNP and the Tories to a conversation about devolution that some of us have been engaging in for nearly forty years, including through the Constitutional Convention, from which both the SNP and the Tories absented themselves.
“Even before the inception of the Convention, the STUC was a leading force in bringing together Scottish civic society in debating and agreeing Scotland’s devolved future and this is a role we expect to continue. We will maintain a dialogue with all parties and use all processes which ensure that a proper discussion can take place about our constitutional future which has the economic and social well-being of Scotland as its priority.
“In April 2007, prior to the Scottish Election, STUC Congress agreed to undertake its own examination of the powers of the parliament and to come to a view on whether there were further powers which might be devolved.
“We will not hold this debate in isolation. We will be examining the best way to engage with our civic partners in Scotland, but we will also be leading a debate among trade union organisations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“It is vital that, as we in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are working to optimise our own devolutionary settlement, those in England, and particularly the labour and trade union movement in England, join us in a full and frank discussion on how national democracy and economic decision making can best serve the needs and aspirations of those is all regions of England as well as all the countries of the UK.”
ENDS
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