REGIONS of Scotland which vote No in any future independence referendum should be allowed to stay in the UK, according to a pro-UK campaigner.
The idea has been put forward by Guy Stenhouse, chairman of finance firm Shancastle Investments, as part of a three-point plan on how to “protect the people of Scotland from endless chaos and division”.
Writing in The Herald, he said the appointment of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister “is a chance for the UK Government to set out some clear ground rules” on whether or not another referendum takes place.
The first condition must be a two-thirds majority in Holyrood, while the second is for the vote to be overseen by an “independent commission potentially including international members”.
The outcome of the Supreme Court trial on whether or not Holyrood has the power to legislate a second indyref is yet to be released.
Stenhouse, a member of the Scottish Business UK campaign group, added: “There was simply too much sharp practice by them last time – a grossly biased question and deliberate exclusion of Scots living in the rest of the UK voting.”
He also outlined ideas on what to do should the Yes campaign win a narrow victory due to votes coming predominantly from the central belt, an outcome he described as a “disaster for Scotland”.
Stenhouse said: "There are two ways to deal with this. The obvious is to allow a region which votes to stay with the UK to do so if the rest of Scotland votes to go. This is perfectly fair.
"The SNP scream that Scotland was dragged out of the EU against its will, so why should the South of Scotland region, for example, be dragged out of the British union against its will? Plainly it should not.
"The better way, and which keeps Scotland together as a political whole, is to say that in order for a referendum to result in Scotland leaving the UK there needs to be both an overall majority in favour and a majority in each of the eight electoral regions."
The Scottish Government recently went to the Supreme Court over whether or not it had the power to legislate for a second independence referendum without Westminster's consent.
