Referenda petition

A PETITION to the Scottish Government seeking independence referenda for Scotland’s three island groups has been rejected.

A majority of Holyrood’s public petitions committee decided to close Malcolm Lamont’s petition, which had been seeking referenda in Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles immediately after next month’s nationwide referendum on Scottish independence.

The Scottish Government had set out in writing why it was opposed to the petition’s request, pointing to work it has done in response to the three island authorities’ Our Islands Our Future campaign on granting further powers.

Committee convener David Stewart MSP said the latter campaign had a “very positive agenda which has a lot of cross-party support”.