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leading human rights lawyer objects to a delay to work on a possible written constitution for Scotland, while other experts dispute whether one is necessary or workable Share 16 inShare0 Email Would a written constitution for an independent Scotland hamper or enhance justice and civil rights? Lawyers are divided Photograph: Ian Waldie/Getty Images Should detailed work and debate on a putative written constitution for Scotland start now, and not wait until a yes vote for independence, then the next Holyrood elections in 2016? A senior human rights lawyer, John Scott, believes so. Scott, vice convenor of the Scottish wing of the influential legal group Justice, and chair of the Howard League for Penal Reform Scotland, believes the shape and focus of that constitution ought to be central to the public debate on independence before the autumn 2014 referendum. He expects Justice would be "very supportive" of the increasingly firm proposal from Alex Salmond, set out in

We have plenty of Euro-sceptics up here, but the economy, unemployment and public spending cuts are much more on people's minds. The Guardian Northerner's political commentor Ed Jacobs sets the context Share 10 inShare0 Email Starring role. Will Cameron evoke notions of looking for another galaxy, far away? Photograph: Yves Herman/REUTERS In the wake of last year's by-elections in Middlesbrough and Rotherham one Nigel Farage, esteemed leader of UKIP, declared proudly that his was now the "second party in the North." Call it a statement of the obvious or hubris, depending on your point of view, but there is no doubt that unlike many other previous anti-EU parties, UKIP is causing the Conservatives a world of problems. And so, faced with an increasingly Eurosceptic parliamentary party, fuelled in equal measure by ideology and concerns about the party loosing supporters to UKIP, David Cameron will today make his long awaited speech on Europe which is seen by

Share breaking news, leave links to interesting articles online and chat about the week's events in our weekly open thread Share 0 inShare0 Email Share your favourite links, news, thoughts and comments from the political week in our open threadPhotograph: Purepix / Alamy/Alamy I'm not writing my usual Politics Live blog today, but, as an alternative, here's Politics Live: readers' edition. It's intended to be a place where you can catch up with the latest news and find links to good politics blogs and articles on the web. Please feel free to use this as somewhere you can comment on any of the day's political stories - just as you do when I'm writing the daily blog. It would be particularly useful for readers to flag up new material in the comments - breaking news or blogposts or tweets that are worth passing on because someone is going to find them interesting. A lot of what I do on my blog is aggregation - finding the good stuff and passing it o

George Galloway's dramatic victory for Respect party was down to his skilled oratory and Labour's failure to take the seat seriously, says a new detailed report of the 2012 result Share 20 inShare0 Email Ed Jacobs guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 January 2013 11.01 GMT Jump to comments (22) George Galloway celebrates his byelection win over Labour in Bradford West. Photograph: Ross Parry Agency It is now almost a year since George Galloway dealt the Labour party a devastating blow in Bradford West, masterminding one of the most sensational byelection shocks in recent memory. The Respect party candidate's victory prompted a period of Labour soul-searching, with Ed Miliband visiting the former "safe seat" to find out himself how bad the gap between Labour and the voters of Bradford West had become. Now we have a more detailed analysis of the reasons behind Labour's spectacular fall thanks to a report from the campaign group Democratic Audit, which cal

• My PMQs verdict • Lunchtime summary Share 8 inShare0 Email David Cameron is taking PMQs. Photograph: PA 4.00pm: Here's an afternoon summary. • William Hague has used a debate on Europe to mock Labour for not having a clear position on whether to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. Although we can't be certain what the Labour Party's position is, we have an educated guess that although they won't call for an in/out referendum now, they might do so in future and it's completely possible but not certain that it will be in their next election manifesto. If that is their position, that is the most uncertain position of all to say you might have an in/out referendum but you might not. They are against an in/out referendum but not necessarily. They have adopted a position for the next general election which might not apply even at the next general election. They are against uncertainty but they are not really sure about it. (It sounds like h

The first minister resisted the invitation from Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson to reveal the date for the 2014 independence referendum, but it won't be long to wait Share 35 inShare0 Email Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond launches plans for consultation for a referendum on Scottish independence in the Great Hall of Edinburgh castle. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images Alex Salmond has confirmed that the precise date for Scotland's independence referendum in the autumn 2014 will be revealed in March, when his government publishes its referendum bill. This timetable has been alluded to before, but after yesterday's cross-party consensus on the exact question and campaign funding, the day of the poll remained the biggest unknown. Prompted by Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson at First Minister's questions, Salmond resisted - without much difficulty - her invitation to set it out there and then, stating: That will be introduced to the parlia

The PM may be seeking to drag his party to the centre ground, but voters don't seem to be buying it – and his MPs are in revolt Share 19 inShare1 Email Gay rights campaigner Paul Bennett, 44, of London stands outside Parliament on the day of the Commons vote on gay marriage. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images In 2010 the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats formed their coalition with the symbolism of marriage – the famous first press conference between Nick Clegg and David Cameron in the Downing Street rose garden can be seen as the formal exchange of vows, pledging to stick together until 2015 in sickness and in health. Fast forward to today and there is a supreme irony in the fact it is now the issue of marriage, specifically same-sex marriage, that is giving Conservative backbenchers an itch to consider divorce from their leader. While David Cameron may well hold deeply held views in support of same-sex marriage, the politics remains simple. Supporting such a

Sir Jon Cunliffe questions EU referendum calculation by saying future eurozone integration is 'very uncertain' Share 7 inShare0 Email David Cameron won a new fan in Germany but is struggling to convince even Britain's ambassador to the EU. Photograph: YOAN VALAT/EPA David Cameron travelled to Brussels for the EU summit with a helpful endorsement from, all places, Munich. In an article for the Times, the professor of economics at the University of Munich, Hans-Werner Sinn, praised the prime minister's recent speech on the EU: In essence Mr Cameron is right. There is something amiss in the EU. It regulates far too many things that fall outside its remit. While the prime minister has a new fan in Germany, it appears that he may be struggling to convince some of his own advisers. In little noticed remarks to the House of Commons foreign affairs select committee on Wednesday, Britain's permanent representative to the EU cast doubt on the prime minister's

Last week's 'historic' visit by the Québec separatist premier Pauline Marois to Edinburgh left observers puzzled, but Scotland's first minister had a stronger interest in his own ethnic and cultural ties, with Canada Share 35 inShare0 Email Québec's premier Pauline Marois presents a sculpture to Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond. Photograph: Chris Watt/Reuters Last week's curious visit to Edinburgh by the Québec separatist leader and premier Pauline Marois has provoked discussion about the subtleties of Scottish nationalism, which has led to one conclusion: all independence movements are not necessarily the same. After quite deliberately hyping her meeting with Alex Salmond – it was set up in the Canadian and Québécois media as "historic" and a "separatist summit" - Marois left with little to show and not a great deal to boast about. Salmond extended courtesies and showed good manners – they exchanged gifts and issued a j

I'll be interviewing the shadow foreign secretary this week. What would you like me to ask him? Share 3 inShare0 Email Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary: what do you want to ask him? Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian Often foreign policy is not a particularly partisan matter. But with the future of Britain's relationship with the EU being lined up as a key election issue in 2015, Labour foreign policy is in the spotlight. This week I'll be interviewing Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary. What do you think I should ask him? David Cameron set out his agenda in his long-awaited Bloomberg speech last month. For Labour's stance, you can read Ed Miliband's One Nation in Europe speech from November and Alexander's Reform in Europe speech, delivered days before Cameron's. Alexander is giving another speech on Europe and the Left at a Fabian conference on Saturday. I'll be focusing on the issues thrown up by this deba

After a series of scandals, policing in the north of England has taken a battering. But Theresa May's reforms are wide of the mark Share 8 inShare0 Email Sean Price was sacked as chief constable of Cleveland police in October 2012 after being found guilty of gross misconduct. Photograph: Fiona Hanson/PA Last year at I wrote at length about the problems besetting the North's police forces. Cumbria's chief constable was the subject of an investigation by the Independent Police Complains Commission (IPCC) into allegations of "serious" misconduct; Cleveland's police chief was dismissed for "gross" misconduct; and – perhaps the most high-profile of all – West Yorkshire's chief constable, Sir Norman Bettison, eventually resigned over persistent questions about his role in the South Yorkshire force's response to the Hillsborough disaster. Amid this backdrop – and faced with continuing arrests in the Met police's inquiry into corrupt pay

If community energy schemes are part of the government's energy masterplan, why are there so many planning obstacles? Alison Cahn shares her frustrations with the current system Share 77 inShare12 Email Lancaster Cohousing, a community housing scheme on the River Lune in Lancashire, took eight years to complete. Photographs: Alison Cahn Politicians of all hues love talking about community, urging people to get involved in planning, building and providing services for people in their area. But do they really know the cost to those involved? Do they realise the time, energy and expertise needed to jump through the many hoops involved to get a community scheme off the ground? Judging by my experience, I can only assume not. I've just moved into one of the North's newest experiments in communal living; a pioneering eco-cohousing project just outside Lancaster, created and run by the people who live there. So I know how difficult it is to bring community schemes to f

Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, discusses the Iraq war, Europe, the referendum and interventionism in an interview with Andrew Sparrow Share 34 inShare1 Email Douglas Alexander Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian Often in the House of Commons statements on foreign affairs can be a little bit dull because all sides agree. But matters of war and diplomacy also provoke some of the most ferocious arguments in politics, causing divisions not just between parties but within them. Douglas Alexander is shadow foreign secretary and, in an interview, we covered a range of subjects, including two of the most contentious foreign policy issues of recent years. • Alexander said the Iraq war did more harm than good. "If you look at the ledger with a 10-year perspective, the negatives outweigh the positives," he said. Alexander was a junior minister at the time of the Iraq war and in the past he has been less willing to criticise the decision to go to war in 2003