Scottish Government wants independence referendum next year

When presenting the Scottish government’s plans for next year the day before yesterday, First Minister Axel Salmond from the populist Scottish National Party announced a forthcoming Referendum Bill to enable Scotland to hold a referendum on full independence in 2010. However, there will most likely be no referendum as the bill is unlikely to garner the necessary support in the Scottish Parliament; the Labour Party, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats having made clear their intention to vote against it.
As Tom Peterkin commented in The Scotsman yesterday, such a rejection of the bill “by opposition MSPs would enable Mr Salmond to go into the next Scottish election basing his campaign on claims that the other parties had denied the people the right to choose their constitutional future”. On the other side there is at present no majority in the Scottish people for independence from the United Kingdom.