LORDS DEMAND CLEANER CAMPAIGN STANDARDS

FORMER First Minister Jack McConnell yesterday said Scotland deserved a higher level of debate on independence than it had enjoyed so far.

During a House of Lords debate on Scottish independence, Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale said those campaigning for independence should make a real effort to ‘stamp out the culture of bullying and intimidation’.

But those in favour of the Union needed to ‘raise their game too’ in outlining a positive vision for a reformed United Kingdom.

A former Scottish Secretary used the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn to launch a defence of the United Kingdom. Lord Lang of Monckton said the Act of Union in 1707 had brought to an end centuries of war between England and Scotland and led to peace and prosperity.

The Tory peer said: ‘Seven hundred years ago today, we Scots won a victory over an invading English army. It changed our history, but brought us neither security nor order nor prosperity.

‘It didn’t end the fighting and 200 years later we were the invading army and England won, but still the fighting continued. The lessons of Bannockburn only make sense when considered alongside the lessons of Flodden.

‘Only after the Act of Union created one country and abolished England and Scotland as separate states did lasting peace break out and with it prosperity and security.’

Lib Dem peer Lord Stephen condemned the ‘attack dogs’ of the Yes campaign, saying they were ‘the dark, divisive side and unacceptable face of nationalism’.

Lord Strathclyde, Tory former leader of the Lords, said the voice of the SNP was missing from the debate and he regretted that in his time in government he did not succeed in getting Scottish Nationalists to sit in the Upper Chamber.