Moore delivers warning to Lib Dems over referendum

SCOTTISH Secretary Michael Moore today claimed the row over the SNP’s assertions on EU membership underlined the need for the independence referendum to be run according to impartial advice.

He was due to tell the Scottish Liberal Democrat autumn conference in Dunfermline that the Electoral Commission’s recommendations on the referendum question and spending limits should be heeded.

Mr Moore was expected to say: “There is no other body with the experience and neutrality of the Electoral Commission. To overrule its judgement would invite the charge of rigging and bias – tainting the process. So while every UK government has had the power to do so, none ever has.

“Just this week, the SNP got a taste of what happens when politicians play fast and loose with Scotland’s future to meet their own narrow ends. We can’t have debate conducted on these terms.”

Leader Willie Rennie was expected to call on the Scottish Government to match the UK Government’s commitment to extend free childcare to 40 per cent of the most disadvantaged two-year-olds.