By Ronnie Cowan
It is a fact of life that we have to make decisions. We do it every waking minute of every day of our life. I confess that I have no idea if there has ever been any research carried out to provide a timescale relative to the complexity or importance of a choice.
This is unfortunate as we have a decision to make and no obvious timeline. On the May 5 the electorate of Scotland will vote for the party they wish to form a government for the country for the next five years.
We know the Scottish Parliament election will be on this date because the Scotland Act 1998 states any Scottish Parliament elections should be held on the first Thursday in May. But life isn't always that simple because, along with all the others decisions we have to make, we are now being asked to decide if the United Kingdom, of which Scotland is still a constituent part, should remain in the European Union.
Not for one minute am I telling anyone how to vote (but we should stay in the EU) but I really do think that all of the electorate of the UK should be given a suitable amount of time to engage, learn, discuss and come to a reasoned decision. And therein lies the problem; or, to quote Shakespeare: “aye there's the rub”. We don't have a date for the EU referendum yet.
The electoral commission has guidelines and rules nut it does not decide the date; that is up to the UK Government. I believe that this is such a big decision, with serious consequences for both Scotland and the UK, that we should have an appropriate time to consider and discuss it. The question is not just how long that is but, after we decide that, what would be an appropriate date.
David Cameron is on record as saying that time is an important factor. When asked about the date of the referendum, on January 5, the Prime Minister made reference to 1975 when Labour held a referendum. At that time there was only a month between the completion of the legislation and the referendum, which Mr Cameron himself admitted was not enough time.
The Prime Minister then went on to reference the referendum on the alternative vote in the previous coalition governmen the had led. The period was less than three months, which again he conceded was also not enough time, accepting that we should be looking to secure a period of longer than three months. Following that logic we should not consider a date until 12 weeks after the Scottish Parliament election, which would take us to the July 28. But that is the school holiday period so the logical conclusion is to carry the date into September, when all the schools in the UK have returned. To go any earlier equates to a June referendum and that is ultimately what the choice boils down to: have the Europe referendum in June or September.
In Scotland we already have an engaged electorate. It is more than capable of quickly grasping the thrust of the argument but to properly consider and process the wide ranging and conflicting arguments deserves a suitable period of time.
I propose that June is too early and I am concerned that, last week during Prime Ministers Questions in the House of Commons, I clearly heard Mr Cameron say that six weeks was sufficient. That worries me.
Mr Cameron has a battle on his hands. There are many Conservative MPs who want out of Europe and, despite all the posturing, the Prime Minister wants to stay in. If he loses this vote, he loses his party and his position.
Paradoxically, the many campaigns that want to leave the EU also want to wait until September as it gives them the time to put across their argument. A June referendum might in fact suit those of us that want to remain. But this is about encouraging engagement in the political landscape of Scotland. We have an active and informed electorate; it is only right and proper that it is afforded the appropriate time to consider its choice.
Ronnie Cowan is SNP MP for Inverclyde and a member of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.
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