Citizens’ Assembly ‘won’t alter constitution’

The co-chair of Scotland’s Citizens’ Assembly, David Martin, has said anyone who expects it to “validate a particular constitutional outcome is going to be disappointed”.

The former Labour MEP, who gave his inaugural address as professor of policy at Glasgow University last night, said that, while the current “upheaval at Westminster demonstrates the uncertain outlook for our constitution”, the remit of the assembly would not stray into making constitutional choices.

There have been concerns raised by Scottish Conservatives and Liberal Democrats that the assembly – announced by Nicola Sturgeon in April – would be used by the SNP government to underline its desire for another independence referendum.

But Mr Martin said that, although there would probably be future constitutional choices to be made, “our remit does not extend to making these choices for people”.

He added: “It would not be possible to take the range of evidence and undertake the deliberation required to work through any, let alone all, of those constitutional choices.”

He said the assembly would help people “think through what they need to know when faced with such big choices and to set expectations about how citizens are supported to take decisions” and help them “explore how different constitutional changes might impact in real life”.