> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Tories debate Scottish referendum
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/tories-debate-scottish-referendum/
- Published: 2008-05-06T19:05:09.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-14T22:40:21.000Z
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 18:41

**Anthony Barnett (London,** [**OK**](http://ourkingdom.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/memo-from-lord-holme-to-gordon-brown1.doc?ref=opendemocracy.net)**):** As OK readers will know ([thanks Doug](http://ourkingdom.opendemocracy.net/2008/05/05/a-gentle-reminder/?ref=opendemocracy.net#comment-21384)) Wendy Alexander has turned over her views on a referendum and has now challenged Alex Salmond to "bring it on". I'll leave her motivation and calculation to others closer to the scene. But I have just been reading a fascinating exchange over at [ConservativeHome](http://conservativehome.blogs.com/torydiary/2008/05/tories-accuse-w.html?ref=opendemocracy.net) on whether the Tories should back a quick referendum now which they assume supporters of the Union will win, or reject the call as it will become a "neverendum" - ie just the next stage of an SNP campaign that will not take 'no' for an answer. Or, in other words just putting the question will be a kind of official recognition of its legitimacy and even the eventual likelihood that the Scots will say 'why not'.

For the record immediate, official response from the Scottish Tories is:

*Scotland's future should be the subject of calm and considered debate, not knee-jerk panic by a Labour Party in political meltdown.*

But I am struck by the lively exchange of strategies in the comments that follow.