THE makeup of the Smith Commission on more powers for Holyrood has been called into question by a letter from senior representatives of civic Scotland, who warn that "a vital component is missing from the process" - the full engagement of the Scottish people.
The letter, to Lord Smith of Kelvin, was signed by Sally Foster-Fulton, Convener of the Church and Society Council of The Church of Scotland, Willie Sullivan of the Electoral Reform Society, NUS Scotland president Gordon Maloney, STUC president Grahame Smith, and the chief executive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Martin Sime.
The five civic leaders said a "truly citizen-led process" was needed. "The future of devolution cannot be decided behind closed doors by party politicians alone, or with limited reference to community leaders, however well intentioned," the letter said.
Meanwhile, former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged the cross-party members of the Commission to unite around his plan to make Holyrood responsible for raising 54% of its revenue, or £18billion in 2016.
Attacking the Tory proposals for not going far enough, Brown said Labour's plans would create a "powerhouse parliament", adding a new idea of his own - 50% of the VAT raised in Scotland being assigned to Holyrood, around £5.5bn. Brown has arranged a Commons debate this Thursday and a petition signed by 110,000 people on delivering the vow. He said the SNP plans for maximum devolution for Holyrood were "separation by another route".
SNP MP Pete Wishart said Brown had "no authority or ability to deliver anything at all", and had failed to deliver more devolution when in power. Meanwhile, the Smith Commission on more powers for Holyrood risks making a "terrible mistake" by producing rushed legislation that ultimately breaks up the United Kingdom, Henry McLeish warned yesterday.
The former Labour First Minister said the Commission had been given "an impossible task" to agree workable plan by the end of November. It is also a "dangerous recipe" to give Scotland ever more powers without considering the strain it placed on the Union, he said, and the best solution may be a "confederal set-up where Scotland gets as many powers as it needs", but not every power it wants.
He told the Scottish Green party conference: "My worry is we get more powers and no solution for England, and Wales is dangling. Scotland will be going further out on a limb, and maybe the only thing that could happen then is for that limb to break off."
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