Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale will today call for a UK-wide constitutional convention to "save" Britain.
In a speech in London, Ms Dugdale will say that if the Prime Minister Theresa May does not establish such a group then Labour should.
And she will accuse the Conservatives of putting the Union at risk.
Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown has called for a constitutional convention to consider the make-up of the UK.
In recent weeks he has suggested that it could also look at giving Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions control over areas taken back from Brussels, such as agriculture and fisheries, after Brexit.
Ms Dugdale will write to Mrs May to call on the Government to establish a convention, which Labour sources said would examine the “erratic” nature of devolution across the UK in recent years.
In her speech at the IPPR think tank, Miss Dugdale is expected to say: “The time has come for the rest of the UK to follow where Scotland led in the 1980s and 1990s and establish a People’s Constitutional Convention to re-establish the UK for a new age.
“The convention should bring together groups to deliberate on the future of our country and propose a way forward that strengthens the UK and establishes a new political settlement for the whole of our country.
“This is a Convention that the Government should convene, and I have written to Theresa May today outlining Scottish Labour’s desire to see this happen. However, if the Government is not willing, as Gordon Brown has said, the opposition should convene a Convention.
“Some may say this is unrealistic, but it would follow the model of the Scottish Constitutional Convention which, without Government support, established the basis for the settlement that delivered a Scottish Parliament in 1999.
“It would also – for the first time – provide a coherent approach to answering the question of how our country is best governed.
“While devolution has been positive for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, we have to acknowledge that progress has been erratic and while there has been significant progress in some parts of the UK, other parts have been left behind.”
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