Tories and Lib Dems are ‘foolish’ to boycott assembly, says Martin
Former Labour MEP David Martin has branded the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties “foolish” for their boycott of Scotland’s new citizens’ assembly.
Mr Martin, who is co-convener of the new assembly, said that while it would make “no difference” to its function, the parties should not “turn their heads away” from the new body.
His remarks came as it was announced recruitment of assembly participants had begun with a “cold-calling” process that will see researchers randomly knock on people’s doors to ask if they want to join.
Between 100 and 120 members of the public, excluding elected politicians, staff or officers of political parties and civil servants, will be recruited fromacrossscotlandandfrom different ethnic, social and economic backgrounds, to be representative of the Scottish public. Thousands of people are expected to be asked to get involved before the quota of members is reached.
They will be tasked with finding answers to questions, such as how Scotland can “overcome the challenges we face, including those arising from Brexit” and “what kind of country are we seeking to build?”
However, the assembly has already faced opposition from the Scottish Tories, who have described it as a “talking shop for independence”. Willie Rennie, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, has labelled it “an attempt to sew some new patches on the SNP’S dodgy case for independence”.
The assembly has also been embroiled in controversy after SNP MP Joanna Cherry declared it the “perfect way” to move Scotland towards independence. Pollster Mark Diffley, who runs a polling company with former SNP Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, had been revealed as the person who won the £22,000 contract to select the assembly members.
Mr Martin, who lost his European Parliament seat earlier this year, said the lack of participation by the two parties “makes no difference because this is not a forum for political parties, it makes no difference to the function of the assembly”.
But he stressed: “They would be foolish to turn their heads away. Almost one in five of participants – if we’re successful in recruitment – will be historic Conservative voters and I’m not sure how they would feel about their party to say we’re having nothing to do with this.”
Mr Martin said the assembly was not there to discuss “independence, devo max or even a unitary state”, but to find solutions for challenges faced by Scotland.
His co-convener, Kate Wimpress, pointed to t he transparency of the recruitment process and added: “People are engaging in this debate, it would be foolhardy to ignore that.
“I sincerely hope people will see this as a positive chance to look at some of the important issues that are facing us all, in a supported space, where we can look at the complexities of the world and step away from the binary ‘is it this or that?’ It’s an opportunity. I genuinely hope people will see it as that.”
Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins doubled down on his party’s opposition to the assembly and said the forum would “never be viewed as impartial”.