BRITAIN:Scotland's unionist parties have secured the appointment of a constitution commission to advise on possible further devolution within the UK as an alternative to the Scottish National Party government's "national conversation" on independence.
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats backed the move by Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander to ensure a majority in the Scottish parliament for a publicly funded, expert-led, "independent" review of the operation of the existing devolution settlement and the case for greater powers at Holyrood.
Nicola Sturgeon, deputy leader of the SNP, insisted the exercise should not be taken seriously unless the unionist parties agreed to put their preferred final option to a referendum alongside the independence question.
Patrick Harvie, the Green SMP, also criticised the proposal to limit the group's scope to securing Scotland's position within the UK.
However, Ms Alexander told the parliament she believed "Scots seek a future that gives them the chance to walk taller without having to walk out". The Scottish Labour leader also warned the minority SNP administration: "Be very careful before you attempt to strangle at birth an initiative based on what the people of Scotland want."
Conservative leader Annabel Goldie said the nationalist party did not have "a monopoly on patriotism" and claimed the SNP's "national conversation" launched in August was "tearing up our constitution and ripping Britain apart".
With the new constitution commission to involve the Westminster wings of their parties as well as private and public institutions, Ms Alexander hailed what she described as a bold, cross-border initiative to consider how best Holyrood could serve the interests of the Scottish people.
While they voted against the motion on Thursday, the formal move by the unionist parties toward greater powers for Holyrood, almost certainly including tax-raising powers, will be seen by the SNP as further proof of party leader and first minister Alex Salmond's continuing ability to set the political agenda.
Former Ulster Unionist leader, now Conservative peer, Lord Trimble also cautioned yesterday that the nationalists would regard any commitment to greater devolution as a further step toward the goal of independence.
He said the devolution of fiscal powers would prove "extraordinarily difficult" and suggested the commission should look closely at this issue in the context of the 19th century Irish Home Rule Bills.
"We are returning to a very old question," Lord Trimble told The Irish Times, adding that "it may well be that the study of these issues will educate public opinion" and influence the final recommendations of the commission.
With some senior DUP figures monitoring developments in Scotland, he said there would "undoubtedly be a Northern Ireland interest" in a developing debate "that can't be confined to Wales and Scotland".