THE National Liberal Party will soon be contacting Alex Salmond concerning the proposed draft Scottish Constitutional Referendum Bill.

David Kerr – pictured left – a member of the NLPs Steering Committee – has been tasked with drawing up our submission to the Scottish Government. This is the body which will consider all details and options relating to the vote on Scotland’s future.

The NLPs submission is likely to focus on two main areas.

The first is the need to have a truly democratic vote. As it stands at the moment, this is not possible as Scots will only be allowed to choose between two options. These are independence and the union.

We feel that this is unfair and unjust. The NLP believes that at least one other option should be provided. This ‘third option’ would be Devo-Max, an idea which is gaining ground in Scotland. (Briefly, Devo-Max will keep Scotland in the United Kingdom but it’ll have the power to raise and spend its own money. Westminster will only look after ‘UK wide’ services like Defence and Foreign Affairs. The NLP believes that Devo-Max is an important option that many people would prefer.)

To this end the National Liberal Party is busy campaigning in Scotland on the issue of having a ‘third option’ on the ballot paper.

The second objective of our submission will be to raise the idea of a Scottish Preferendum – as opposed to a Scottish Referendum.

A preferendum is a multi-option voting process for use in decision-making. The procedures for a preferendum cover both the debate which precedes the vote, as well as the vote-and-count. A referendum, on the other hand, is a direct vote in which an entire electorate are asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal.

Although they may sound similar, a preferendum is much more democratic that a referendum. A preferendum also ensures that more people are happier with the eventual outcome. Here’s how:

Say the Scottish Referendum only allows people to vote for one of two choices. At the moment that’s either independence or remaining part of the union. Even if a majority – say 51 per-cent voted for the union – that leaves a sizeable minority (49%) opposing it.

Additionally, if the Scottish Referendum included Devo-Max on the ballot paper, many people can also be left bitterly disappointed.

Say 31 per–cent of Scots vote for the union. 30 per-cent may vote for Devo-Max and 29% for independence. Here it can be seen that overwhelming majority (59 to 31%) have voted against union.

With a referendum, the largest minority wins! Such a referendum can’t really be said to truly reflect the mood of a country. It can’t really be said to be a truly democratic vote.

However, in a preferendum, the electorate can cast a vote in favour of a whole spectrum of ideas.

Say there are three options – the union, Devo-Max and independence. The voter can cast 3 points for their most preferred option, 2 points for their next favourite and 1 point for their last choice.

At the count, all the points for each of the options shall be totaled and expressed as a percentage of the maximum possible score as a level of consensus. The option which gets the greatest number of first preference votes wins.

The National Liberal Party feels that this would be a much more democratic way of conducting business. It leaves the vast majority of people happy – and, importantly, less people will feel cheated.

As we noted in a previous article – Scottish Update of 24 March 2012 – those interested in helping out with the NLPs submission should contact us at natliberal@aol.com as soon as possible.

We hope to have our submission in towards the end of this month, so look out for more news on this in the very near future.

In the meantime, information about Preferendums can be found here: http://www.deborda.org/faq/what-is-a-preferendum/

• Follow the National Liberal Party on Twitter. Just click here: https://twitter.com/#!/national_libera

• Follow the National Liberal Party on You Tube. Just click here: http://www.youtube.com/user/NationalLiberalParty

• Follow the National Liberal Party on Facebook. Just click here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Liberal-Party/160937907279184

The ongoing Leveson Commission is an inquiry is into the culture, practice and ethics of the press. This came about of course following the scandal of the News of the World wholescale ‘hacking’ of phones to find/create stories.

Our resident poet Jasan’s latest offering is titled “Dirty Linen” or “Sir Leveson’s Commission” which he says is actually revealing an unholy alliance of corruption at the higest levels of society of Britain.

He says“Corruption is at the core of the British Society which is shocking to the hard working ordinary folks of Britain. Police, Media, Media Barons, Lords and Sirs and Commissioners all caught in this web of deception and dirty alliance.”

A COUPLE of days ago, we carried an article about how Tesco’s were very happy to use the Con-Dem government’s work experience scheme (1). Amazingly, Tesco’s have now changed their minds – no doubt due to the bad publicity the ‘Workfare’ scheme has recently attracted.

–

Tesco’s problems arose when a group of Right To Work (2) activists ‘invaded’ and occupied the Tesco Express store at Portcullis House, Westminster. The location of this branch of Tesco’s ensured mass media publicity.

With this in mind, we were interested to see the latest issue of British Worker, the ‘paper of Solidarity Trade Union’, which we have just received.

(1) http://nationalliberal.org/?p=3752


(2) http://righttowork.org.uk/


(3) http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/main/Home

THE CON-DEM GOVERNMENT’S work experience scheme is little more than an attempt to introduce a system of slave labour for young unemployed Britons. That’s the view of the National Liberal Party.

Some of those attending the ‘Workfare scheme’ are promised a guaranteed job interview at the end of it. However, getting a guaranteed job interview – as opposed to a guaranteed job – are two different things.

For instance, the multinational giant, Tesco’s has taken on over 1,000 ‘volunteers’ over the last four months, but only about 300 have received jobs at the end of it.

The NLP notes that the ‘Workfare scheme’ smacks very much of the Thatcher Government’s actions in the 80s. Here, to fiddle the unemployment figures, the Tories listed people under new titles and/or schemes.

The NLP spokesman said:

“Personally, I feel that this current system is much worse since it lines the pockets of Tesco’s at the taxpayer’s expense! If someone is working they must receive the minimum wage. This is the complete opposite

We also have to bear in mind that the Conservatives would never have brought in the National Minimum Wage – so they have no interest in protecting it. The fact that it is Tesco who is benefiting also opens up questions relating to the company’s relationship (if any) with politicians.”

A COUPLE of days ago, we carried an article about how Tesco’s were very happy to use the Con-Dem government’s work experience scheme (1). Amazingly, Tesco’s have now changed their minds – no doubt due to the bad publicity the ‘Workfare’ scheme has recently attracted.

–

Tesco’s problems arose when a group of Right To Work (2) activists ‘invaded’ and occupied the Tesco Express store at Portcullis House, Westminster. The location of this branch of Tesco’s ensured mass media publicity.

With this in mind, we were interested to see the latest issue of British Worker, the ‘paper of Solidarity Trade Union’, which we have just received.

(1) http://nationalliberal.org/?p=3752

–
(2) http://righttowork.org.uk/

–
(3) http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/main/Home

LOOK OUT for a new leaflet – For A Truly Democratic Scottish Referendum! – that’ll soon be available from the National Liberal Party!

The leaflet deals with the Scottish Constitutional Referendum, scheduled for the Autumn of 2014. As many folks will know, that’s when Scotland will be asked to vote on its future. At the moment it’s likely that’ll Scots will only be able to choose from two options – should there be an independent Scotland or should it remain part of the union?

The leaflet argues that for the referendum to be truly democratic, there has to be a third option on the ballot paper – that of Devo-Max.

Devo-Max will keep Scotland in the United Kingdom but it’ll have the power to raise and spend its own money. Westminster will only look after ‘UK wide’ services like Defence and Foreign Affairs. The NLP believes that Devo-Max “is an important option that many people would prefer.”

As well as calling for the referendum to be truly democratic, the leaflet urges Scots to campaign for Devo-Max to be included on the ballot paper. “The people must be given the chance to vote either for independence, the union or Devo-Max.”

It notes there are three easy ways to help:

HAVE YOUR SAY! The Scottish Government is asking for your view on the referendum. Let them know what you think. Tell them that you want Devo-Max on the ballot paper! Check out www.scotland.gov.uk

TELL ALEX SALMOND! Alex Salmond is Scotland’s First Minister. He’s overseeing the referendum debate. Let him know that you want Devo-Max to be included on the ballot paper! E-Mail him now at alex.Salmond.msp@scottish.parliament.uk

DISTRIBUTE THIS LEAFLET! This needs to be a truly democratic referendum. More people need to know about the third option of Devo-Max. Why not take 100 copies of this leaflet and distribute them to your family, friends, neighbours and workmates. For more details simply e-mail us at natliberal@aol.com

The National Liberal Party will be producing more educational and outreach material concerning the Scottish Constitutional Referendum in due course. In the meantime, we’d urge all of our members and supporters in Scotland – and further afield! – to help get the third option – Devo-Max – on the ballot paper!