Alun Cairns
Main Page: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)Department Debates - View all Alun Cairns's debates with the Scotland Office
(12 years ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)
4. What assessment his Department has made of the responses to its consultation on the proposed referendum on independence for Scotland.
Amber Rudd (Hastings and Rye) (Con)
8. What assessment his Department has made of the responses to its consultation on the proposed referendum on independence for Scotland.
The Secretary of State for Scotland (Michael Moore)
The Government published their response on 4 April. The responses to the consultation gave strong endorsement to a referendum involving a single, clear question on independence, overseen by the Electoral Commission, using the same franchise as that used to elect the Members of the Scottish Parliament, and held sooner rather than later.
Alun Cairns
Does my right hon. Friend agree with the consensus established by the responses to the consultation, which is that people do not want to wait 1,000 days to exercise their votes in a referendum?
Michael Moore
This is a fundamentally important decision, the most important that we as Scots will make in our lifetimes, and the longer it is delayed, the greater the uncertainty will be. The sooner we can get on with resolving the process and the question, the better.