ALISTAIR Carmichael has warned Labour it could be punished by Scottish voters at the 2015 general election if it tried to put a brake on more powers for Holyrood as he urged Nicola Sturgeon to "keep your word" and rule out a second referendum on independence.
Speaking at the Liberal Democrats' conference in Glasgow, the Scottish Secretary cautioned that any hindrance to more powers would help the Nationalists keep independence at the forefront of political debate for years to come.
While the LibDems and the Conservatives support devolving virtually all powers on income tax to the Scottish Parliament, it is thought Labour is deeply split on the issue. The target date for reaching agreement among the UK parties is just weeks away - St Andrew's Day.
Mr Carmichael said: "Anyone who threatens to delay the process will suffer electorally in 2015 and risk putting us in a position where the pledge is seen not to have been honoured and, as a result, would not settle the independence question. The stakes are high. The delivery of the pledge means as much to those who voted Yes as to those who voted No."
He stressed that ensuring the greater powers were delivered meant Yes campaigners had "nowhere else to go" given the referendum was fair, decisive and legal.
In his keynote speech, Willie Rennie, the Scottish LibDem leader, addressed what he called Labour's "fear" about the consequences for the rest of the UK from constitutional changes for Scotland but he stressed: "Now is not the time for timidity here in Scotland or across the UK. The response to the cry from voters is to be bold and ambitious."
Earlier this month, Gordon Brown suggested that handing over control of income tax to Holyrood would help the Tory leadership in its bid to ban Scottish MPs from voting on financial matters at Westminster.
Such a move, which the former Labour prime minister described as a Tory trap, would be "clearly against the material interests of the people of Scotland and put the Union itself at risk". It is thought Ed Balls, the shadow Chancellor, agrees.
Earlier, Mr Carmichael urged Yes campaigners to respect the referendum result, saying: "We can all wave flags, join protests and march if we want to, but wouldn't it be better to set those things aside to accept the will of the Scottish people."
Mr Carmichael claimed Ms Sturgeon, the deputy SNP leader tipped to take over from Alex Salmond, now faced a big test.
He added: "It is disappointing she has declined to rule out pushing for a second referendum in less than three years from now.
There is still time for her to clarify that she will push for no such thing. I hope she will take that opportunity."
The Scottish Secretary, citing the example of Canada, warned that the threat of a second referendum would undermine business. "I don't want the pall of uncertainty to descend once again, obscuring our view of the future," he said. "The Scottish Government should join us in doing everything possible to create certainty and protect jobs, not cast doubt and scare employers away."
And in a direct challenge to the Deputy First Minister, he said: "So, Nicola, take this moment to keep your word, uphold the Edinburgh Agreement and rule out your support for another referendum."
The Deputy First Minister argued that the word "devolution" was inadequate to describe the current process because it suggested powers being handed down to a passive people.
And Ms Sturgeon said it was remarkable 1.6 million Scots voted Yes given the No camp's fear tactics.
The September 18 poll would, she said, "be judged in days to come as the moment which determined that independence was a question of "when, not if".
Writing in periodical Scottish Left Review, she said: "The more responsibilities we can demonstrate Scotland is capable of successfully discharging, the less people will heed the siren voices."
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