The second ballot paper will presumably be printed on different coloured paper. This is how it will look:

People voting in Wales will receive one ballot paper, printed in two languages. This is what voters will read:

The Government will appoint Chief Counting Officers for Scotland and Wales to conduct the referendums and certify the results. They in turn will appoint local counting officers. The Referendum Bill tries to exclude the power of the courts to question results announced by counting officers. Courts do not like seeing their powers excluded in this way and there is some doubt over whether this clause would work. However, ministers say this sort of provision is normal in legislation dealing with referendums and it provides a safeguard against unnecessary litigation.

The Government strongly supports the idea of a parliament for Scotland with tax-varying powers and a more limited assembly for Wales. Although a majority of just one vote will be sufficient to trigger the devolution legislation, the Prime Minister and his Government will be campaigning in Scotland and Wales in the hope that as many voters as possible will say ‘I agree’.

If the Government's proposals are approved, preliminary work will start on the buildings to be used for the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. In total, that could cost up to £40 million. The two devolution bills will be published after the House of Commons returns in October and are likely to complete their parliamentary passage by next summer. Elections would be held by 1999 so that the two bodies could meet in time to welcome in the new millennium.

The European Court in Strasbourg

At the moment, the only way of claiming rights granted by the convention is to take a case to the European Court of Human Rights, which is based in the French city of Strasbourg. This is a lengthy and complicated process: it can take five years or more. If parliament accepts the government’s proposals, anyone who claimed their human rights had been breached would be able to challenge the government in the United Kingdom courts.

A claimant who lost would still be able to go on to Strasbourg. However, the Government will not be able to appeal against a defeat in the United Kingdom courts. Governments do not have human rights.

The previous government opposed these moves because it feared that judges would be forced to make political decisions. Much depends on how the legislation is worded. The government is thought to support a fairly weak form of incorporation, along the lines of the New Zealand Bill of Rights. The courts would be told that as far as possible they should interpret the law in a way that was consistent with the human rights convention. However, parliament would still be able to pass a law which was inconsistent with the convention if it said so explicitly. This means parliamentary sovereignty would be preserved.