Meeting of the Parliament 08 October 2014
The referendum was the biggest democratic experience of my life. It gave the biggest democratic endorsement of any decision ever taken in this country, and we therefore need to respect that decision and ensure that we follow up on the range of commitments that we gave on both sides during the referendum, so that the country comes together as a result.
The debates and discussions during referendums are often more instructive than the actual result. There was anger and frustration, and there was also hope and ambition, and we have to capture the massive energy that existed during the referendum to change the way that we do politics and to ensure that we change Britain in the way that people expressed a desire for.
As Johann Lamont quite rightly said, we also need to focus on the big issues that people were talking about during the referendum: fairness, economic growth and opportunity for everyone right across society. We need to meet those challenges, and that is why this is a massive opportunity for us all to come together. For the first time ever, we have all parties in this Parliament, in Scottish politics, together in the one room. That has never happened before and in itself is a massive opportunity. Bringing together the 45 and the 55 is also an opportunity to ensure that they are engaged in the discussion going forward.
I would say that this country has never been better informed about its arrangements than it is now. We are in the best place possible to make a decision about our constitutional future. After a three-year debate, people know more about their constitution than they could ever really want to know, and that gives us a great opportunity to come up with a sustainable constitutional settlement that includes wider society, as it must do.
We must also ensure that the forces of constitutional conservatism that have defeated us on House of Lords reform, the alternative vote and various other reforms are defeated. We must use the energy of the referendum to make the big changes that people want. That is why I am delighted that Mike Moore and Tavish Scott have agreed to serve on the Smith commission. Those two individuals will follow through on the commitment that we gave in the referendum to ensure that there is substantial change. Mike Moore has a good track record on working across party boundaries to deliver the change that people want in this country.
We must ensure that powers are transferred to Scotland and down into communities. People in Shetland are as suspicious of Edinburgh as they are of London, and we need to make sure that we reflect the diversity that exists within Scotland as much as the diversity that exists in the United Kingdom. That is the commitment that the Liberal Democrats will give in the process. It is a big opportunity. Let us seize it.
16:59