Mr. Richard Thomson:

It is a great privilege to be able to address the Seanad on this issue. I will not cover the same ground that Mr. Docherty-Hughes has covered. I will limit my contribution to a couple of additional points. However, I endorse everything my colleague said in his presentation.

I am speaking from the perspective of having been involved in two recent referendums, namely, the Scottish independence referendum of 2014 and the Brexit referendum of 2016. I very much hope to be a participant in another Scottish independence referendum in the not-too-distant future. Particularly when a referendum involves a major constitutional change with international ramifications, there is real importance to its internal legitimacy with the country's polity, whether citizens support the proposition or not, and its external legitimacy, which relates to the soundness of the process and the means by which it is conducted. The clarity of the proposition and the process are key to legitimacy.

To contrast the 2014 Scottish independence referendum with the 2016 Brexit referendum, the Scottish Government produced a document of almost 600 pages on Scotland's future. It did not meet favour with everyone, as one would expect, but nevertheless no reasonable objective observer could say it was not obvious what the parameters for a future independence negotiation would look like and what the Scottish Government hoped a future Scottish state would look like and the relations it would go on to have with the rest of the world. I would contrast that with the official campaign materials for the Brexit referendum, which effectively amounted to a couple of sides of A4 paper and not much else. There is no comparison between the two processes in terms of the length of time for engagement or the quality of the information provided.

Politicians must ensure clarity of process. The public are generally more interested in what it means for them. There was certainly clarity of process in 2014. The Edinburgh Agreement between the Westminster and Scottish Governments established that the Scottish Government had the power to go ahead with a referendum. Having agreement between all sides on the ground rules is extremely important.

I am happy to draw my remarks to a close because I know we are under some time pressure. I am happy to participate as fully as possible in the question-and-answer session to follow.