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Parliamentary
What happens next?
Both the Scottish Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have expressed a desire to table a motion that would call the SNP's bluff and force them into a referendum now. As independence is currently only supported by a minority it would be likely that any referendum would fail, which the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats feel would leave the question to lie fallow for another generation. This possibly frees the Liberal Democrats from any previous reservations that impeded them from taking power by forming a coalition with the SNP.
However it is thought that holding a referendum now also runs the risk of normalising the idea of referenda, as has been seen in Quebec. It has been warned that already low voter turn out in Scotland could be further impacted upon by a badly timed vote.
There has as yet been no date set by the Scottish Government for a closing to the National Conversation, or to the tabling of a referendum bill, if one will be tabled.
Mairi Sharratt
mairi.sharratt@shepwedd.co.uk
18 September 2007