The Liberal Democrats claim to be the party of devolution and federalism. Yet their actions do not always bear this out. This is not English chauvinism (that's the Tories) but it is thoughtlessness, which is so sadly characteristic of our neighbours to the South when it comes to Scottish matters.
In 1992, Paddy Ashdown, the then Lib Dem Leader, faced the embarassment of a matter of his private life being brought into the public domain. I shall not comment further on the nature of that matter since, in my view, it was no one else's business. He applied for and gained an injunction from the English courts banning publication. This would have worked except he forgot that Scotland had a separate legal system and an interdict (even the terminology is different) was require here too. Anyway the Scottish press ran the story and the matter became public.
Nick Clegg's decision to hold the referendum on (partial) voting reform for Westminster on the same day as the Scottish and Welsh general elections shows the same lack of foresight. Just imagine turning on the TV to have a party election broadcast then followed by a referendum broadcast from the YES or NO campaign about an entirely different parliament. Imagine also two totally separate sets of TV and radio debates. The whole thing is just messy and badly thought out.
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