SCOTLAND's political elite is failing the electorate by not debating the fundamental implications of independence on the country's future with Europe, a leading academic has said.
Professor Michael Keating accused both sides in the independence debate of playing "domestic political games" over the issue of EU membership.
He also accused Labour and the SNP of "exaggerating their degree of difference" on Europe in a bid to create differentiation on a policy platform that is otherwise remarkably similar. Addressing a crowded lecture hall at Glasgow University, the Aberdeen University academic urged politicians to come clean about what is really at stake.
"[Mr Salmond] was offered a question about independence which the political elite have insisted is clear cut. It's not," Mr Keating said.
"They've made it quite clear this will be independence in Europe. If Scotland is independent in Europe then in a sense it's not really independent at all."
He said key issues of sovereignty would remain out of Scotland's control such as currency.
Mr Keating, one of the country's foremost experts on European politics and nationalism, was speaking in a Glasgow University lecture series looking at controversial issues surrounding the independence referendum, run by the Stevenson Trust for Citizenship.
Mr Keating said: "The interesting thing here is to do with the details. On what terms does Scotland want to join Europe? What would its position be in Europe? What kind of Europe we are heading for."
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 hereComments are closed on this article