Salmond risks excluding a million Scots voters if he rejects UK Government’s offer

The Scottish Conservatives are calling for all of Scotland's four million voters on the official electoral register to be given a vote in any referendum on independence.

If Alex Salmond SNP fails to take up David Cameron's offer of holding a fair and legal referendum and instead attempts to organise his own vote, he will be unable to access the full register.

As a result, he will only be able to use names and addresses from the publicly available edited register – which could result in almost a million Scots being excluded from any referendum the SNP may attempt to hold without having the legal powers from Westminster.

In the 2005 Edinburgh Congestion Referendum, thousands of voters were excluded from taking part because the city council was barred from using the full electoral register.

Ruth Davidson said:

"The UK Government has set out very clearly that the UK Government cannot legislate lawfully for a referendum with its current powers.

"The full electoral register can only be used for specific purposes such as the General or Holyrood elections.

"The legal position is clear, if the SNP attempts to go ahead with its own referendum then it will be nothing more than an opinion poll, with a million Scots unable to be asked for their view.

"For a man who has campaigned all his political life for independence it is staggering that Alex Salmond is so far refusing to accept the UK Government's offer to give him the powers to have a fair, legal and decisive referendum.

"The SNP should get on with this vote as soon as possible so the future of Scotland is settled in the court of public opinion and not the law courts of Scotland."

Number of registered electors in Scotland:

As at December 1, 2010, 3.99 million people were registered to vote in Scottish Parliament elections. http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/press/news2011/increase-in-scottish-electorate.html

According to the 2010 Data Collection, General Register Office for Scotland, 26.8% of people on the full register have opted-out of the edited register.

UK Position:

"The edited register is available for sale to anyone for any purpose. Its main clients are direct marketing companies and companies compiling directories. Members of the public can choose to have their details omitted from the edited register by ticking a box on their electoral registration or annual canvass form.

http://www.justice.gov.uk/reviews/docs/data-sharing-review-report.pdf p. 73

Scotland Act

s.29 of the Scotland Act 1998 is clear: An Act of the Scottish Parliament is not law so far as any provision of the Act is outside the legislative competence of the Parliament.

Edinburgh Congestion Referendum (2005)

The turnout was 61.7 per cent from a potential 300,000 people from the edited register and those who applied individually for a ballot paper.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4287145.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4174789.stm

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