ALMOST 40 peers will tomorrow take part in what is likely to be the House of Lords' biggest debate to date on the constitutional implications of independence.
They will discuss the recent report from the Lords Constitution Committee, which recommended that if there were a Yes vote, then, while Scottish MPs should keep their Westminster seats between the vote and full independence, earmarked for March 2016, they should not take part in the post-referendum independence negotiations nor the scrutiny of those negotiations given that their first loyalty would be to their Scottish constituents.
The committee also pointed out how there was no constitutional requirement for the UK Government to stick to the Scottish Government's 2016 timetable for full independence and they should not do so unless it were in the interests of the rest of the UK.
Among those due to speak in the debate, which is expected to last four hours, are: Lord Lang of Monkton, the Committee Chairman and former Conservative Scottish Secretary; Liberal Democrat Lord Wallace of Tankerness, the Advocate General; Lord Hope of Craighead, former Lord Justice General and Deputy President of the Supreme Court; Labour peers Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale, the ex-First Minister of Scotland, and Lord Foulkes of Cumnock, the former Scotland Office Minister; Conservative peers Lord Strathclyde, a previous Leader of the Lords, and Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, an ex-Scottish Secretary; Lord Steel of Aikwood, who was Holyrood's first Presiding Officer and Lord Cullen of Whitekirk, a former Lord Justice General.
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