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Referendum consultation results due

 

The long-awaited analysis of the independence consultation is expected to be made public, more than five months after it closed.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon intends to make a statement to MSPs at Holyrood on the analysis of responses, subject to approval by cross-party members of the parliament's business bureau.

The announcement comes one week after Prime Minister David Cameron visited Edinburgh to sign off a deal to deliver a legally binding, single-question referendum in 2014, through a technical "section 30 order" which was formally laid at the Scottish Parliament on Monday.

The referendum deal was made during parliamentary recess, meaning that the first available opportunity for MSPs to be formally updated lands on the first day back.

The timing of the intended statement prompted opposition complaints that the SNP ignored public views before signing the deal.

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: "It's no surprise that this consultation has magically appeared when the ink on the agreement is barely dry. It will no doubt tell us exactly what the SNP wants us to hear. Given the delays in publishing this consultation, it does not bode well for a timely release of the Scottish Government's white paper on independence due next year."

Labour constitution spokeswoman Patricia Ferguson said: "It is truly shameful that it has taken the Scottish Government the best part of six months to publish this consultation, let alone that they have done it the week after they signed the agreement for the referendum after cutting a deal behind closed doors. They have wasted the time and money of the Scottish people, and ploughed on with their own party political agenda, ignoring the views of the Scottish public and treating the 20,000 responses to the consultation with contempt."

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP said: "When it comes to the independence debate the SNP Government only has ears for positive news. Alex Salmond will have to explain why he felt that those consultation responses did not matter enough to inform negotiations with the UK government. If they did, why were they not released just one week earlier?"

Speaking on Monday, Ms Sturgeon said she intends to make the statement today after approval to a timetable change by the business bureau.

The consultation ran from January 5 to May 11. Issues included the proposed timetable, whether there should be weekend voting, who should oversee the running of the referendum and what the spending limits should be. The British-Scottish government agreement in Edinburgh means the Scottish Parliament will legislate for the date of the referendum, whether to reduce the voting age to 16, the wording of the question, campaign finance rules and the conduct of the referendum.

 
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