The SNP's Westminster leader, Dave Doogan, has called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to ensure any written UK constitution includes a route for leaving the union, warning such a document would be "fundamentally flawed" without it.
Constitutional push
The question of Scottish independence has been stymied in recent years by an argument over the process for holding a referendum, with powers to grant another vote held by Westminster and successive prime ministers refusing to engage with the topic.
Over the weekend, Mr Burnham said a written constitution should be created in his push to ensure everyone in the UK lives a "comparable life". The Prime Minister first mooted the idea in a 2024 book he wrote with Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotherham during his time as the mayor of Greater Manchester.
In his brief time in office, the Prime Minister has already shut down talk of Scottish independence.
Doogan's warning
"Andy Burnham spent the weekend talking about a written UK constitution after telling Scotland discussion about our constitutional future is ‘off limits’," Mr Doogan said.
"There are pro-independence first ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – that’s the context of this discussion, so clearly a written UK constitution is fundamentally flawed if it doesn’t spell out a path to leaving it.
"The Scottish Parliament has voted for the Scottish people’s right to decide, there are a record number of pro-independence MSPs in Holyrood and opinion polling consistently shows independence is the preferred position of the Scottish people.
"Westminster cannot continue to ignore that reality.
"Andy Burnham is right to say Westminster has hoarded too much power and he is right to raise the question of where power lies in these islands, but he will never address the answer to that question by denying democracy to the Scottish people."
The UK Government has been contacted for comment.
