A FORMER Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has dismissed claims the umbrella body for charities was working with the Scottish Government to ensure a two-question independence referendum.
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) convener Alison Elliot refuted Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie's suggestion it was allowing itself to be manipulated by ministers.
In a letter to the Mid Scotland and Fife MSP, she said: "I consider your allegations preposterous, your interpretation of the incidents fanciful and your attempt to interfere in the business of an independent organisation unworthy of a public leader."
The Herald revealed on Monday details of a private email between First Minister Alex Salmond's political adviser Alex Bell and SCVO chief executive Martin Sime. It highlighted a trade union poll showing support for a two-question referendum.
Mr Rennie accused Mr Sime of turning the organisation into a "front" for SNP ministers and called on him to step down.
However, Ms Elliot said: "It can be argued that, were it not for the efforts of civil society, through the Constitutional Convention, there would not be a Scottish Parliament for you to be an MSP in. That was of its time but civil society always has a role in a healthy democracy."
She said there was an appetite for a wider debate about the country's future, and added: "It is this debate which organisations in civil society are promoting, with the intention of encouraging people to develop a vision of the kind of Scotland they want to see so as to inform their referendum decision.
"It is not a campaign for any particular outcome, or for any particular mechanism for achieving an outcome."
Defending contacts between the SCVO and the Government, she added: "Special advisers from all the main political parties, including your own, have been in dialogue with SCVO in recent months; that is their job.
"We welcome these conversations and engage in them from our perspective as a civil society organisation that has an interest, on behalf of our members, in contributing to policies that shape the environment in which the third sector works.
"SCVO is not a front for anyone, nor will it be told by outsiders what it will or will not debate or how it should conduct its business."
The SCVO is the driving force behind the Future of Scotland group, a loose coalition of charities, churches, trades unions and student bodies set up to explore demand for offering greater devolution alongside independence in the 2014 referendum.
It has received increasing encouragement from the SNP Government, despite ministers' publicly stated preference for a straight Yes/No question.
Earlier this year Future of Scotland commissioned an Ipsos MORI poll showing a majority of voters were in favour of a two-question referendum.
Ms Elliot, who is also chairwoman of the Future of Scotland group, said it proved Scots "want to go beyond Punch and Judy-style politics" of the pro and anti-independence parties.
And in an apparent statement of support for a two-question poll, she said the referendum process should reflect "a popular rather than political mandate".
However, Mr Rennie said: "I've clearly touched a raw nerve. These are serious concerns about the impartiality of the chief executive of SCVO and clearly they deserve a better response.
"I think people will be concerned SCVO has taken one side of a highly polarised, political debate.
"First we had the attempt to undermine the launch of Better Together and now hard evidence of collusion with one of Alex Salmond's close advisers.
"SCVO is in serious danger of undermining its reputation."
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