SHOULD Scotland be an independent country?
The question has dominated our politics since 2011 and it looks increasingly likely that we will soon be asked to consider it again.
But is that question, or rather, the way it is phrased, fair?
The Scottish Government, in its consultation on a draft referendum bill, says it expects that the exact wording used in 2014 will appear on ballot papers in any future vote.
On the face of it, this is uncontroversial. It was the impartial Electoral Commission, which has a legal responsibility to consider the wording and fairness of proposed referendum questions and almost always sees its recommendations adopted, that suggested this version back in January 2013.
But since then, there is reason to believe its thinking may have moved on. The EU referendum saw a long-standing preference for Yes/No referendum answers ditched in favour of Remain/Leave. Already, there are muted calls from pro-UK campaigners for a similar approach in a future Scottish vote.
Those arguing the 2014 version did not meet the neutrality test can look to Alex Salmond for back-up. In his referendum diaries, he was clear that he believed the wording of the question handed his campaign a distinct advantage.
"The key to progress was always to be on the positive side of the argument," the former First Minister noted. "The referendum question - should Scotland be an independent country? - gave us that firm platform. It is simply not possible to enthuse people on a negative."
Last time, voices of dissent were rare. Yes and No answers were easy to understand, straightforward and unambiguous, those considering the issue said, with "no issues" with response options uncovered by research. Little wonder - of the four questions tested by the experts, all had a Yes/No response.
Ahead of the EU referendum the Electoral Commission spent rather more time considering whether a Yes or No question was appropriate.
SNP chief executive Peter Murrell and MP Tommy Sheppard, perhaps concerned about unhelpful precedents, were among a small handful of people who spoke out in favour of a familiarly-phrased question initially proposed by David Cameron: "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?"
This time, the experts backed many more who complained the wording was biased. The Plain Language Commission raised wider concerns around Yes/No referendums, arguing: "Putting ‘Yes’ first invites people to think this is the answer the questioner wants to hear and thus introduces a bias towards ‘yes’" while also helping one side to be seen as 'positive'.
Mr Cameron agreed to ditch the dodgy phrasing that would have let him lead a Yes campaign. We know what happened next.
With any future independence vote likely to be framed as a choice between two unions the use of 'independent country' in a question, a term considered but deemed fairly unambiguous ahead of 2014, may also have to be re-examined.
For its part, the Electoral Commission is non-committal. It will consider and report on the question if it comes to it, it says, but we're not there yet.
Could Nicola Sturgeon pull the referendum trigger only to find herself in charge of a Leave campaign? Stranger things have happened.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel