A SENIOR Nationalist MSP has urged Westminster to pass a fallback devolution law that would only come into force if Scots reject independence, leading to claims of deepening panic in SNP ranks about the outcome of the referendum.
Linda Fabiani, the convener of Holyrood's recent Scotland Bill Committee, called on the pro-Union parties to have stand-by legislation ready that would transfer significant new powers to Edinburgh should there be a No vote in 2014.
Fabiani said a "Devolution to Scotland Act (2014)" could spell out the as yet unspecified extra powers promised by Prime Minister David Cameron in the event of a No vote, allowing voters to see exactly what they would get if they were to reject independence.
Specifically, it would amend Schedule 5 of the 1998 Scotland Act, which lists the powers that are devolved to Holyrood.
Writing for the Sunday Herald online, Fabiani said the measure would force Labour, the LibDems and the Tories to come clean with the electorate, and avoid a repeat of the 1979 devolution referendum, after which the Tories reneged on a promise of more powers.
However, the pro-Union camp said the proposal smacked of panic, and that the SNP was now so desperate to avoid defeat in 2014 that it was asking opponents to hand it an escape clause.
Recent polls have shown support for independence slipping, despite the high-profile launch of the Yes Scotland campaign in May.
Labour said it was extraordinary that the SNP wanted a Tory government to rewrite devolution.
In a keynote speech in Edinburgh in February, the Prime Minister held out the promise of more powers if Scots rejected independence: "When the referendum on independence is over, I am open to looking at how the devolved settlement can be improved further. And yes, that means considering what further powers could be devolved."
However, Cameron has since failed to identify any new powers, leading the SNP to compare him to former Tory prime minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home, whose pledge of better devolution if Scots rejected a Scottish Assembly in 1979 was never fulfilled.
Fabiani, MSP for East Kilbride, said the best prospect for Westminster passing a radical programme of devolution of powers was "now, not after a 2014 referendum", when boundary changes and the May 2015 General Election would dominate the UK political agenda.
Willie Rennie, the leader of the Scottish LibDems, said: "You can feel the waves of panic emanating from SNP HQ. They spend more time now arguing for our policy than they do their own."
Labour MSP Patricia Ferguson said: "When SNP MSPs start planning for defeat, you can bet they know that defeat is just around the corner. The fact that the SNP are now accepting that independence is less popular than devolution is another nail in the coffin of the Yes campaign."
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