LONDON (Reuters) – Less than a month after Scots spurned independence, separatists said on Tuesday that British Prime Minister David Cameron was betraying Scotland by reneging on pledges to grant more spending powers to the Scottish parliament.
In a last-ditch attempt to shore up support for the union days before the Sept. 18 referendum that threatened to break apart the United Kingdom, Britain’s three main political parties promised to give more powers to Scotland.
Since then, Britain’s London-based politicians have bickered over what amounts to a full-scale overhaul of the way the United Kingdom is ruled, though party leaders insist they will grant the promised powers to Scots.
“People have no confidence in Tory guarantees and they are absolutely fizzing about what looks like a preparation for a betrayal of solemn commitment made,” Scottish nationalist leader Alex Salmond said, refering to Cameron’s Conservative party.
Salmond, who is due to step down as nationalist leader next month, said Scots angered at what he termed an attempt to trick them would exact revenge on the main parties in the 2015 parliamentary election.
After the 55-45 percent vote for staying in the union, Cameron said the issue of Scottish independence had been settled for a generation and promised more powers for Scotland as part of a rebalancing of powers across the rest of the United Kingdom.
Nationalists say they feel the question is far from settled, especially if they fail to get the autonomy Scotland has been promised or if British voters choose to leave the European Union in a 2017 referendum on membership that Cameron has said he will call if re-elected in 2015.
Read more at Reuters
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