THE NATIONAL LIBERAL PARTY is pleased to announce that issue 1 of Liberty & Nation is out now!

As we’ve previously noted, production of Liberty & Nation (L&N) has, in part, been delayed due to other essential work. We’ve also faced a couple of technical problems as well.

This first issue looks at the forthcoming Scottish Constitutional Referendum, scheduled for Autumn 2014. It argues in favour of “some form of maximum devolution (more commonly known as ‘Devo-Max’) to appear on the ballot paper” and explains the NLPs ideal of a Federal Britain. This means that all of the home nations should have their own parliament. This will leave Westminster to act solely as a UK-wide ‘inter-national’ parliament.

Ironically, the delays faced by L&N – ‘The Voice of the National Liberal Party’ – have meant that recent events in Scotland have overtaken us!

When L&N was written it was felt that the option of Devo-Max would be included on the ballot paper. However the ‘Edinburgh Agreement’ (signed by Prime Minister David Cameron and First Minister Alex Salmond) of October 15 has paved the way for just a single Yes/No question on Scotland leaving the UK and allows 16 and 17-year-olds to vote.

Despite this, the National Liberal Party has decided to go ahead with the production of this issue of L&N. We’re doing this for two main reasons:

Firstly, we do not want to lose this issue of L&N to history as we believe that it’s important to chart our position on the questions of devolution and democracy. We still favour Devo-Max (as opposed to independence or the status quo) and preferendums (as opposed to a straight Yes/No vote). In short, we regard Devo-Max as a ‘Third Way’ beyond independence and unionism and preferendums as the most democratic form of conducting business.

Secondly, the arguments put forward in L&N are still very much valid. This is particularly so in respect to England. As L&N notes:

“The NLP believes that this is also the only way of addressing English grievances over the West Lothian question (where Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs at Westminster can vote on policies that only affect England but English MPs can’t vote in the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish devolved governments) and the Barnett Formula (which ensures that England gets a raw deal when it comes to the money spent on essential public services.) Devo-Max will give England its own parliament.”

It is in this context that Liberty & Nation should be read. To get hold of issue 1, simply e-mail natliberal@aol.com and ask for your FREE pdf copy!