'Radical' plans set out for independent Scotland to have written constitution

“Radical” plans for Scotland to have a written constitution if it becomes independent have been unveiled by First Minister Humza Yousaf.

Proposals for the document, which would set out the rights of citizens, include allowing workers to strike and a guarantee that healthcare is “free at the point of need”.

The constitution could also rule out Scotland being a home for nuclear weapons, and enshrine the right to adequate living standards, Mr Yousaf said.

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“By helping enhance and protect important rights, it will make a genuine and significant difference to people’s lives,” the SNP leader told a news conference in Glasgow.

The Tories branded the proposal the “height of self-indulgence” and accused the SNP of focusing on the wrong priorities.

But Mr Yousaf claimed the current arrangements, with no written constitution in place in the UK, mean Westminster could choose to abolish the Scottish Parliament.

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“That’s not an abstract concept,” he said.

“It is worth remembering the UK Government is already seriously considering the repeal of the Human Rights Act, one of the most significant achievements of any UK Parliament in the last 30 years.

“In future, Westminster sovereignty could even allow the UK Parliament to repeal devolution through nothing other than a simple majority vote.”

With a final constitution only being developed after Scotland has voted for independence – and not coming into force until after people have backed it in a referendum – the SNP leader conceded he could not say for certain what would be in such a document.

However, he said the constitution would “embody a set of longer-term, more fundamental values about what a country is for” and set out a “common understanding of a nation’s priorities”, as well creating a “standard below which no government should ever fall”.

Giving examples, he said such a document could “protect the right to take industrial action” for workers and could also set out “provisions on the right to adequate housing, the right of communities to own land, or our right as citizens to access healthcare which is free at the point of need”.

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He went on to state: “In the Scottish Government’s view, it should also include provisions stating very clearly and explicitly that Scotland will not host nuclear weapons.

“In the context of the Westminster system, these proposals do sound radical.”

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Mr Yousaf spoke as he launched a new paper on plans for the written constitution, which is part of a series of essays from the Scottish Government as it seeks to make a fresh case for independence.

It is proposed that a vote for independence would see the Scottish Parliament develop an interim constitution, which would then come into force when Scotland leaves the UK.

After independence, a constitutional convention would be established to develop a permanent constitution, with this to be considered by Holyrood and also put to the people in a referendum.

Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Donald Cameron said: “The SNP are so obsessed with their push for independence that they are now pressing for not just one divisive referendum but two to take place if they ever get their way.”

He claimed that the first minister “knows that the obsession with breaking up the United Kingdom is the only issue that can keep the warring factions in his party together”.

Mr Cameron continued: “Humza Yousaf has a total brass neck saying the cost of living is the number one issue for him, when he is happy to spend taxpayers’ money publishing yet another paper in relation to independence and trying to waste parliamentary time on it next week.”

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