BRITAIN:Independence for Scotland would spell the death knell for the United Kingdom by putting a question mark over the future of Wales and Northern Ireland, the British lord chancellor said yesterday.
"If Scotland went, then I think the relationship with Wales and Northern Ireland would then be in doubt, it seems to me," Lord Falconer told GMTV's Sunday programme.
"And the abolition of the United Kingdom, which is what it would amount to, would in my view be very detrimental to the prosperity of the people of the United Kingdom as well as the standing of the individual nations in the world."
Elections to the devolved Scottish parliament take place on May 3rd, just two days after the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union between England and Scotland.
Recent polls have suggested the SNP is gaining ground and one, in November, indicated that Scottish independence was favoured by a majority both in Scotland and England.
Lord Falconer denied that devolution had fuelled the demand for independence.
Pointing to Labour's decision to set up a devolved parliament in Edinburgh after the plan was endorsed in a Scottish referendum, he said: "Suppose that we had said no? I am absolutely sure that the demands for independence would be much, much stronger than they are now."
Lord Falconer also insisted there would be no moves to tackle the so-called "West Lothian question" by curbing the rights of Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish MPs to vote on purely English issues.
"We as a country, the United Kingdom, are greatly strengthened by being the united kingdom of all these nations," said the lord chancellor.
"We are weakened in the world if we become England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
"It would be to the detriment of England if the union broke down.
"So much stronger as part of the United Kingdom than simply part of England, Wales and Northern Ireland - and how long would the link between Wales and Northern Ireland last if Scotland went?" - (PA)