Lib Dems to consider backing independence referendum

Despite the amount of news that gets crammed into the 24 hour cycle, the 'breaking news' and the propensity with which a Government or party is said to be 'in crisis', I would imagine that there is relatively little in the newspapers that truly makes people sit up and go 'Woah, I didn't see that coming'.

Well, I had that enjoyable experience today when I saw that the Lib Dems are holding an emergency summit* to establish whether they will or will not back the SNP's Referendum Bill next year. Ross Finnie will lead the review which will canvass opinion right down to member level during a special closed-door session at their Scottish conference on 30th of October.
(*ok, it might just be 'an official review')

However, given that I never really expected an independence referendum to take place in 2010, I am not really getting my hopes up that the Scottish public will get to settle this question next year.

Also, there was a timely reminder today that the Lib Dems are not always as they seem with their Glasgow North East candidate making the ludicrous claim that she wants to see trams scrapped in Edinburgh to pay for GARL in Glasgow. Local candidates pandering to local voters to the detriment of the national party approach is surely a shabby way to conduct themselves.

If the Lib Dems are trying to win support from the pro-independence camp for the 2011 election by merely considering supporting the SNP while still ultimately opposing a referendum then the half-way approach just won't work and they'll fall between two stools.

Nor can the Lib Dems get away with promising support in the next term. They have the opportunity to back a plebiscite now, the recession will be out of the way and I can't imagine there's many pro-independence supporters who will back the Lib Dems over the SNP to make real their Nationalist dreams. If it's a good idea in three years then it's a good idea next year.

A further concern is that this is just a clever way for party leader Tavish Scott to slap down the "young thrusting energetic candidates" who are "desperate to het their faces on television". Once he can say he has heard out the other options then Tavish can rule them out, which is perhaps what he is planning on doing all along so vociferously is the man opposed to the idea of an independent Scotland.

But despite the above concerns, I am holding the Lib Dems in a higher regard tonight. On face value the party is letting go of the more centralist approach it has adopted recently and just throwing the policy open to the membership.

Personally, I think it's a no-brainer for them to go with the referendum option next year. It puts Labour and the Tories well and truly on the backfoot, it confirms the democratics credentials of the party and it gives them a stronger sense of identity which they desperately need. And if it is a multi-option referendum then there is little doubt that their preferred option of more powers will be the ultimate winner.

But with the SNP Conference kicking off a week from today, Salmond could not have been given a better warm-up act than this - knowing that by the end of this very month his independence dreams could be a giant step forward, if the Lib Dems commit to backing the SNP.

Now that would be 'breaking news' that would make more people than just me sit up and take notice...