(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The people of Scotland will be offered the chance to devise a federal future for their own country before next year's general election in Britain (which decides the party that will rule the UK) under radical plans aimed at derailing the surge towards full-blown independence.
Amid growing nervousness among unionists about the prospect of a yes vote for Scottish independence on September 18, an announcement is expected within days on plans to allow people from all parts of Scottish society to decide how to finish the job of devolving powers from London to Scotland's parliament at Holyrood.
A senior British government minister close to the Better Together campaign (to keep Scotland in the UK) said: "Watch this space. You can expect something in the next few days." It is understood that there have been intensive cross-party talks in recent days to finalise the plans.
The senior minister made clear that the new Scottish conference or convention, to be established after a no vote, would involve all parts of Scottish society, not just politicians. It would aim to complete its work in time for the three main British government parties to commit to implementing its recommendations in the first Queen's speech of a new parliament. Scottish first minister Alex Salmond's Scottish National Party (SNP) would be invited to take part.
The plan is part of last-ditch efforts by the no campaigners, who have been spooked by a dramatic narrowing of their poll lead in recent days, to reassure voters that rejecting independence will not mean they are left with the status quo but that more far-reaching constitutional change and devolution will follow.
Rupert Murdoch, the boss of News Corp, hinted yesterday that a poll to be published this weekend would show that the referendum was on a knife-edge. In a series of tweets, Murdoch claimed that the result should be seen as a "black eye" for the British establishment. He said the poll "will shock Britain" and reveal that "everything [is] up for grabs".
"Scottish independence means huge black eye for whole political establishment, especially Cameron [David Cameron, the UK's prime minister] and Milliband [Ed Milliband, leader of the Labour party]." With the yes campaign in buoyant mood, the no team is now fighting a desperate rearguard action. In the decisive final 11 days of campaigning, it will focus on a message that Scots can have the best of both worlds if they remain in the UK, with more devolved powers, including over tax and their own budget, but with the financial security of staying in the UK and European Union.
In a boost to the no campaign, a senior European Commission official yesterday issued a new warning that an independent Scotland could have to wait five years before getting back into the EU. The high-placed Brussels source said that the internal estimate for the time it would take for Scotland to receive new member status would be around five years, contradicting Salmond's claim that Scotland could negotiate its new membership terms from within the EU.
She said: "It is accepted across the commission that Scotland will need to reapply and every member state will need to agree to them being admitted. There will be a significant wait of at least five to six years. For many Catalans, for example, it is this delay and the disruption to business that is in their mind when they consider independence."
Key figures involved within Better Together have been hinting at a major announcement on further devolution in recent days. The Labour party spokesman for foreign affairs Douglas Alexander, who represents Scotland's Paisley and Renfrewshire South, yesterday told an audience at Glasgow University that the time had arrived to make clear to the Scottish people that real change would follow a no vote.
"One of our challenges in the dozen days ahead is to find new ways of setting out clearly to people just how the process for further devolution following a no vote would work, how civic society will be engaged, and on what sort of a timetable the new powers will be delivered, whichever of the main parties wins the general election." He said the choice was "between greater devolution and irreversible separation". Some critics of Better Together have said it has focused too much in recent weeks on the issue of which currency Scotland would use if it voted yes, and too little on how it could change for the better inside the UK.
On Friday, Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, said he wanted to lead a debate in the House of Commons on more devolution as soon as possible after the referendum if Scotland voted no. He said it was time to recognise that it was not just Scotland that would feel the effects of devolution, but England, Wales and Northern Ireland, too.
"The United Kingdom is moving as close to a federal state as is possible in a country where 85 per cent of the population comes from only one of its four parts," he said.
Brown said it had already been agreed that Scotland would have more power to set its own income tax rate, and that there would be more borrowing powers for the Scottish parliament, but he expected more power to set benefit levels and transport policy to be handed to Holyrood.
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