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SCOTLAND needs a second referendum to endorse the devo-max proposals of the Vow or the question of independence will not go away, according to the country’s leading pollster.

Professor John Curtice, of Glasgow University, said yesterday that if the tax and welfare powers being devolved to Holyrood were backed by a public vote the wind would be taken out of the constitutional debate.

Giving evidence to a Lords committee, the TV pundit said the Scotland Bill powers, that came from the Smith Commission, should be put to voters to prove that home rule within the UK was the settled will.

poll loading Would a devo-max referendum quell the Independence debate? 0+ VOTES SO FAR YES NO

Asked by concerned peers how Scotland could be kept within the Union, Curtice presented a radical solution.

He said: “You should be holding a referendum on the Scotland Bill going through this place and that forces the public to engage in the issue.

“Having 55 per cent in favour of staying inside the UK has not done anything to quell the debate”

“If you want to try to cement Scotland’s place in the union, the unionist side has to stop apparently running away from facing the public and and get a positive endorsement.”

He added: “Then you can say people voted for this, this is what people in Scotland wanted.”