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THE man who helped steer Scotland to devolution says he would vote Yes in the independence referendum – if the No campaign cannot deliver watertight promises of more powers for Holyrood.

Canon Kenyon Wright, who headed the group who designed our parliament’s reach and range, believes voters need the consequences of voting yes or no clearly laid out – by both sides.

But he warns the No campaign will need to do more to guarantee increased powers for a devolved Scotland if the country votes against independence.

The 80-year-old now lives south of the border for family reasons so will not be able to vote in the referendum, which he greatly regrets.

But he said: “I would have preferred to have been able to vote for something between the two. But if the No campaign do not produce clear, binding promises as to what they would do should they win, then I would vote for independence.

“One thing that has to happen is for the Yes to independence campaign to develop a written constitution for Scotland or at least the principles of one that covers human rights, the rights of the Scottish people and what kind of society is being created.

“The Scottish people have to know what an independent Scotland would look like.

“At the same time, an equal challenge has to go out to the No campaign to spell out – before the referendum – what the implications for the future will be if Scotland votes no.

“What are we going to have then – more devolution? Are we going to have recognition of Scottish autonomy? There have been hints – and people with a long memory, like myself, have suspicions about promises like that.

“When the first referendum failed in 1979, at least one of the arguments put forward by Alec Douglas-Home was, ‘If you vote against this proposal, we will produce something better’. Of course, the Tories retreated from that.

“That’s why I would like to pin them down to lay out their stall clearly now so people know what they promise to do afterwards.”

Canon Wright called on the Yes and No camps to use the next two years to tell people what their vote will really mean for them.

He said: “Back in 1997, in the referendum that created a Scottish Parliament, people were not voting on some vague concept.

“They were voting on a scheme that had been very carefully worked out in great detail by the Constitutional Convention which spelled out what the powers would be, what the electoral system would be and how it would work.

“In the same way, when people go to the ballot box in 2014, they ought to know exactly what they are getting – either way.”

Canon Wright was the force that pulled together politicians, trade unionists, church leaders, businessmen and activists who made up the Constitutional Convention.

If Donald Dewar became the Father of the Nation, then Canon Wright was the godfather, persuading, cajoling and harrying the Convention to come up with a consensus.

Their final document provided the basis for the structure of Scotland’s Parliament as it exists today.

That experience has put him in a unique position to appreciate the difficulties not just for the political campaigns but also for the Scottish people who need clarity when they come to vote on their future.

Canon Wright’s reasoning is that people should vote, rightly, with information and not just emotion.

He would have preferred a third option to be put to voters, a second question not involving devo max, an expression which he hates, but offering more powers and the secure autonomy of the Scottish people.

He is angry the second question has become a victim of compromise – disenfranchising, he believes, many of the Scottish people who do not want complete independence but are not keen on the status quo which does not recognise the sovereignty of the Scottish people, which still resides with the Crown in Westminster.

He said: “I think Alex Salmond would have accepted a second question. He said he was open to it if the Scottish people wanted it. In refusing to have it, David Cameron has denied not Alex Salmond but the Scottish people.”

Canon Wright added: “Scotland has a lot going for it. We have natural resources. We have a population and a commitment to a more egalitarian society.

“I think that an independent Scotland would take its place among the nations in a very honoured way.”