Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged British leaders to honour their vow and swiftly grant further powers to Scotland.
“The eyes of the world are upon the leaders of the major parties in the United Kingdom,” Brown said on Saturday in Scotland.
“We have set down a timetable that is absolutely clear. That a command paper will be published by the end of October, that the heads of agreement between the parties and further devolution will come in November and that the draft legislation, the laws that will form the Scotland bill and eventually the Scotland Act, will be ready by the end of January,” he added.
“These are men who have been promise-makers and they will not be promise-breakers,” he said, adding, “and I will ensure as a promise-keeper that these promises that have been made are upheld.”
Britain’s main political parties, in a last-minute bid to gather support for the union, promised to rapidly expand Scotland’s autonomy just days before Thursday’s referendum, which resulted in 55-45 percent vote against independence.
The former prime minister proposed new powers would ensure no poll tax, bedroom tax or railway privatization could be forced on Scotland and that the Scottish parliament would be permitted to protect the National Health Service.
Following the announcement of the referendum’s results, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that the constitutional reforms, including in Scotland, would not be delivered until after the general election, and that Scottish measures would proceed in tandem with changes in England.
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Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/09/20/379428/brown-urges-london-to-keep-vows-to-scotland/
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