The Electoral Commission, an impartial body, has today rejected the Scottish Government’s proposed referendum question. The commission has also urged the Scottish Government to provide the public with more facts on the implications of separation before the 2014 vote.
The Scottish Government’s proposed question is: “Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country”. The Electoral Commission said there were some aspects of the wording of this question that people felt were “potentially ambiguous or affected their perceptions of the neutrality of the question.” The formulation ‘Do you agree....’ was commonly felt to be biased towards a ‘yes’ outcome and potentially leading people towards a ‘yes’ vote. The Electoral Commission’s proposed question is: “Should Scotland be an independent country? Yes/No”
