A FORMER Labour MEP has said the party should back "independence within the UK" for Scotland.
David Martin, who was the UK's longest-serving MEP, said the "crunch point" for indyref2 will come in the next three or four years.
He argued Labour should offer a "third way".
Writing for the LabourList website, he said: "The majority of Scots now want greater control over their lives.
"A radical way to achieve this, and come as close as any proposal can to uniting the country, is to offer independence within the UK.
"This would be independence without separation."
Mr Martin was an MEP from 1984 to 2019, first for the Lothians and later for Scotland.
He also briefly co-convened the Citizens' Assembly of Scotland.
He insisted the third way can’t simply be a beefed up version of "devo max, devo plus or even home rule"
He said: "Scotland would become a completely sovereign nation with total power over its domestic laws, services and taxation.
"There would be no border for goods, services, capital or Labour.
"Defence would remain a UK-wide function with Scotland making a contribution to this and other common services.
"The UK now representing more than one sovereign state would continue to hold the seat in the UN and on its security council.
"Scotland could, though, if it desired have direct representation in a number of international bodies – just as Taiwan does not have a seat at the UN but is a member of a plethora of international bodies."
Mr Martin said such an arrangement would "provide a solution to the issues of currency, pensions and border posts".
He said: "It probably wouldn’t be feasible for Scotland to rejoin the EU but it would open the door for its participation in such things as the Erasmus programme."
He added: "Such an arrangement would require goodwill on both sides, a robust institutional structure and constant dialogue – but it could work, and avoid a future with either an acrimonious and messy divorce or half of Scots feeling they are being held in the UK against their will.
"If it succeeds, it will demonstrate that the union is one based on consent, not compulsion."
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel