SNP WELCOME CLEGG CLIMB-DOWN ON FIXED TERM DATE

For Immediate Release – Monday 13 September 2010


Attn: NEWS DESKS
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENTS


Welcoming recognition from the Deputy Prime Minister during the Second
Reading of the Fixed Term Parliaments Bill today (Monday), that the
dates of the next Westminster General Election and polls for the
devolved parliaments should not be held on the same day, SNP
Constitutional Affairs spokesperson Pete Wishart MP said the date of
the Coalition’s proposed AV referendum must also now be moved.


Mr Wishart said:


“While it is welcome that Nick Clegg has seen sense over the issue of
fixed term dates, the Coalition Government must now recognise that
combining the date of an AV referendum with the devolved elections
next May is similarly unsustainable.


“We now need to know when the government propose holding the General
Election in 2015. The date of the Scottish Parliament elections has
been set in stone since the 1990s and it would be outrageous if the
Coalition Government attempted to change that to suit themselves.


“The obvious solution, as proposed by the SNP, would be to introduce
four-year fixed term elections for Westminster – that was indeed
Liberal Democrat policy before the election.”


ENDS