{"id":732227,"date":"2026-08-09T06:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T06:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/732227\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T06:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T06:20:09","slug":"could-a-written-uk-constitution-help-or-hinder-scottish-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/732227\/","title":{"rendered":"Could a written UK constitution help or hinder Scottish independence?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n David Kauders, an investment manager who has written a book on overhauling British politics<\/a>, told the Sunday National that there should be a procedure for the public to put issues on the agenda, outwith Westminster<\/a>\u2019s control, but with a \u201cthreshold subject to the level of interest\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said that his plans for further devolution strengthen the case for a written constitution for the UK.<\/a> Burnham did not set out explicit details of what this would look like, but the SNP<\/a> have argued that any codified constitution would be \u201cfundamentally flawed\u201d if it didn\u2019t contain a route out of the Union.\n<\/p>\n

\n SNP Westminster leader Dave Doogan said last week: \u201cAndy Burnham is right to say Westminster has hoarded too much power and he is right to raise the question of where power lies in these islands, but he will never address the answer to that question by denying democracy to the Scottish people.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: Is Scotland at risk of water shortages as hot summers become the new normal?<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Plaid Cymru also agreed<\/a> that any \u201cdecisions on Wales’s political and constitutional future belong to the people of Wales, and this must be a foundational principle to any future codified constitution.”\n<\/p>\n

\n And, former first minister Nicola Sturgeon<\/a> said in the foreword to the paperback version of her memoir, Frankly, that there should be an \u201cagreement on the objective conditions which would trigger a referendum\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Sturgeon pointed to the Irish border poll, adding that what that looks like in Scotland would \u201cneed debate\u201d, and possibly for independence to \u201cremain at a specified level for a set period of time\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Last month, Europe, External Affairs and Energy Minister Stephen Gethins said Scotland would benefit from a Good Friday-style agreement<\/a> to break from the Union.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"StephenExternal Affairs minister Stephen Gethins (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n It comes in the face of repeated refusal from Westminster to grant a Section 30 order on independence. After the Holyrood<\/a> 2026 election, where voters elected a record pro-independence majority to the Scottish Parliament, MSPs voted to request a referendum from the UK Government<\/a>. Their refusal was swift<\/a>, less than 15 minutes after the votes were confirmed.\n<\/p>\n

\n As it stands, the UK\u2019s constitution is uncodified, existing across a series of sources including statute law, common law, and unwritten conventions.\n<\/p>\n

\n Kauders, who has written a draft constitution for the UK in his book Reinventing Democracy: Improving British Political Governance, told the Sunday National that a codified route to a referendum as part of a federal UK would stop \u201cEngland from treating Scotland like a colony\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI can see the frustration that the Scots meet dealing with the English establishment,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: How accurate is Nicola Sturgeon’s warning for the SNP?<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Kauders added: \u201cIf you look at the strategic problem of Scottish independence<\/a>, Scotland is frustrated with England dictating, and most of those seem to be swept away if the UK became just a defence, foreign affairs, currency, and common standards Union. That leaves vast amounts of everything else to the nations.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n This is essentially devo max \u2013 a form of devolution that has been frequently touted by various politicians over the years, most notably former prime minister Gordon Brown, but has never come to fruition.\n<\/p>\n

\n Describing the current devolution settlement across the UK as Westminster \u201cgiving crumbs from the high table\u201d, he added: \u201cIf you look at the situation we’re in now, unless there is a change of the course of events, the United Kingdom will break up.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Kauders believes that a written constitution would keep the UK together, but still argues that it should have a mechanism for any nation to leave if it chooses to do so.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"AndyAndy Burnham and John Swinney met ahead of the Commonwealth Games (Image: PA)\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe United Kingdom will break up if nothing is done,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the only thing that can be done to keep it together is a completely federal state with clearly defined powers and strip away the whole England knows best nonsense.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n He added: \u201cIf you have a federal state where everything else becomes a matter of national policy, then Scotland would be pro-people, progressive, forward-looking. England would be the people in the corner, regressive, backward-looking. They are very different nations indeed, and those Cantons co-exist in Switzerland quite happily.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n By replacing the \u201cautocratic\u201d Privy Council and House of Lords<\/a> with a People\u2019s Council, a Scottish independence referendum could be requested if 10% of the electorate backed it, he argued.\n<\/p>\n

\n Scotland would likely need support from Wales and Northern Ireland under this hypothetical scenario, but Kauders added: \u201cThat should be possible, given the signs of a Celtic<\/a> union appearing already.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n He pointed to the Brexit referendum as a prime example of why 50% of the electorate should agree to a \u201cfundamental issue\u201d such as independence, noting that the SNP had tried to push for all four nations to be in agreement before leaving the European Union<\/a>, an attempt that was struck down in the House of Commons<\/a> by the then-Tory government majority.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThat\u2019s an example of a very badly designed referendum indeed,\u201d Kauders added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Kauders, an investment manager who has written a book on overhauling British politics, told the Sunday National…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":732228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-732227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/732228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}