Following the publication of the Scottish Government’s White Paper on the future governance of Scotland, Unlock Democracy has called on the Scottish Parliament to establish a Citizens’ Convention.

The SNP Government has pledged to establish a “national conversation” about the governance of Scotland, with the Government itself advocating independence. However, opinion polls suggest that two-thirds of the Scottish people oppose independence and the SNP itself does not have a majority in the Scottish Parliament.

The white paper does not spell out how this national conversation should take place and asks for suggestions. Unlock Democracy is calling on the Scottish Government to introduce a system in which the public has far greater control over the process. This could be along the lines of the Citizens’ Assembly model which has been used by the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Ontario to review their electoral systems. Ordinary citizens are randomly selected to sit on an assembly and deliberate on an issue, with their findings put to a referendum.

Commenting on the publication of the white paper, Unlock Democracy’s Deputy Director Alexandra Runswick said:

“It is not at all clear whether the Scottish people themselves would, on reflection, prefer further devolution, independence or to stick with the status quo. We therefore welcome the SNP’s commitment to attempt to build a wider consensus on Scottish governance. The white paper however is disappointingly vague about how the Government intends to do this.

“Government consultations are fraught with problems, especially on matters where the ruling party is ideologically committed to a specific outcome. If the SNP is not careful here, it not only risks courting unpopularity, cynicism about politics and politicians more generally. Proposals for a new constitutional convention along the lines of the convention from which the existing Scottish Parliament emerged would result in a process controlled by the great and the good, which would also be problematic.

“If the Scottish Government and Parliament are genuinely committed to resolving this issue, they must let go of the process. The future governance of Scotland is too important an issue to be left to partisan horse-trading.

“A process along the lines of the Citizens Assembly model used in Canada would take the politicians themselves out of the equation. We urge Scottish politicians from all parties to look at this and other innovative forms of involving the public in decision making.”

Unlock Democracy launched a campaign for a Citiziens’ Convention Bill in the UK Parliament in July. It is currently supported by 84 MPs (13%) from across the political spectrum.