Is there a nationalist mole in Whitehall, an evil genius undermining the case for the Union? On Monday, the UK Coalition published its legal advice on the status of Scotland after independence. Scotland would be a new state, the government lawyers concluded, after also identifying the religious leanings of the Pope. There would be a lot of renegotiation to do, which is great for the legal profession, who stand to make a fortune disentangling the strands of union.
Better Together pronounced the death knell of independence. "This shreds to pieces" declared a UK Coalition spokesman, "Alex Salmond's fantasy that Scotland would be waved through into every international institution on a 'no questions asked' basis". The fantasy being the SNP's 18 month timetable for transition to independence published last week. But the UK Coalition's own legal adviser, Prof. James Crawford of Cambridge University, seems to be living in fantasy land also, because on Tuesday, the co-author of the Coalition's legal advice, admitted on BBC Radio that Scotland already fulfilled the requirements and the Scottish government's timetable for EU renegotiation was “realistic”. The headlines about Scotland having to negotiate 14,000 separate treaties also turned out to be the usual concoction of speculative half-truths. They could all be wrapped up in around 18 months. So much for this weeks' scare.
