3 June 2014 - Scotland: devolution or independence?
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Scottish independence: Cameron backs giving Holyrood income tax power
Severin Carrell (The Guardian)
David Cameron has backed plans for Scotland to set its own income tax rates, including the freedom for the first time to cut taxes below the level of the rest of the UK. He said the proposals, published by Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson on Monday, would offer Scottish voters "real powers with real consequences" if they voted no in September's independence referendum.
The new powers, potentially including control of housing benefit and Scotland's share of VAT receipts, were described by Davidson as a radical and "thoroughly Conservative vision" for greater devolution.
"We want to make the Scottish parliament more responsible for the money it spends – these are real powers with real consequences," Cameron said. "We can now say clearly that, with a no vote this September, Scotland can have the best of both worlds: a strong and responsible Scottish parliament underpinned by the security of the whole United Kingdom."
The proposals represent a significant shift in Tory thinking on devolution. Cameron has already signalled that he is in greater favour of devolution than any previous Tory prime minister as he confronts growing support for independence among Scottish voters.
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Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown (The Daily Record)
We have to fashion a more coherent, comprehensive and enduring form of government for the 21st century.
I tried to square the circle by agreeing in 2008 to Wendy Alexander’s bold and innovative proposal to set up a new all-party commission, the Calman Commission.
We needed to review the powers of the Parliament, to scrutinise the constitution to ensure Scotland has all the devolution it needs, to make sense of the difficult demands to have proper accountability in Scotland while not damaging equity across the whole of the United Kingdom and to demonstrate how the UK has to change, as well as Scotland.
I had a vision of redefining Britishness and Scottishness at the same time. But Calman came at the wrong time for a government then in the midst of a world financial crisis and the Commission was not given the
attention that it needed.
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EU question
Simon Johnson (The Telegraph)
An independent Scotland faces at least three years outside the European Union and it will be "next to impossible" to rejoin on the UK's current terms, a group of the country’s most eminent business leaders warned today.
Business for New Europe (BNE), which includes the chairmen of BAE Systems, RBS, BT Group, ScottishPower and the London Stock Exchange among its advisory board, said Scotland would face a “long and winding road” back into the EU.
A report commissioned by the group said it would be “very hard” for Scotland to negotiate an opt-out from the euro and “next to impossible” to negotiate a budget rebate like that obtained by Baroness Thatcher for the UK.
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Immigration
Staff (Herald Scotland)
Writing in The Herald today, the First Minister accuses Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats of using the issue of immigration as a "weapon" in the referendum fight.
Last week he said an independent Scotland under the SNP would seek to attract an extra 24,000 people per year to live and work in the country as part of a series of measures to boost tax revenues by £5 billion by 2030.
He explained the figure was only 2000 above the average annual net migration of 22,000 between 2001 and 2011.
However, this period coincided with high levels of immigration from new EU countries such as Poland, whose citizens gained the right to live in Scotland.
The UK Treasury has estimated Scotland's long-term average annual net migration at 15,500.
Mr Salmond writes: "The main Westminster parties have decided to deploy immigration as a weapon in their increasingly tawdry self-styled 'Project Fear' campaign." He claims the Coalition Government and Labour have highlighted the net migration figure "as if it were something to be frightened of; a reason to vote No".
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3 June 2014 - Scotland: devolution or independence?, La Clé des Langues [en ligne], Lyon, ENS de LYON/DGESCO (ISSN 2107-7029), mars 2014. Consulté le 26/12/2024. URL: https://cle.ens-lyon.fr/anglais/key-story/archives-revue-de-presse-2014/3-june-2014-scotland-devolution-or-independence-