Rifkind loses seat on May 1

Rifkind: Devolution May Not Break Up Union

Speaking on the BBC's Today programme he said "There is a risk it could lead to that. But I believe that is unlikely to happen because the Scots and the English have far too much sense to allow some undesirable constitutional change to lead to the break up of the finest Union that Europe, possibly the world, has known over the last 200 years."

Malcolm Rifkind on Today Programme

The senior tory did not wholly criticise those, including Tory Party leader John Major, who claimed a Scottish assembly would break up the Union : "I don't say that they're necessarily wrong. I think on balance that it is unlikely."

However Mr Rifkind claimed Labour's "constitutional mess" would produce "20 years of constitutional turmoil".

"Whether we have devolution or no devolution, the real fundamental issues that will affect the future of Scotland and of Britain as a whole will continue to be determined in the House of Commons. If the electorate so wish, that is where I would like to be one day."

A possible site of Scottish Parliament

Alastair MacKenzie, vice-chairman of the Cathcart Conservative Association, had earlier told the programme there should be a separate Scottish Tory party: "A separate party would enable us to produce our own policies tailored to the needs of Scotland and we would not necessarily need to agree with everything the English Conservative party put forward. It is good to disagree from time to time. A lot of policies have been imposed on us and on Scotland which we probably well have done without."

In reply Mr Rifkind asserted that a separate Scottish Tory party would be against the party's basic unionist beliefs. However he did concede that "there is no reason why within Scotland the Conservative party should not be able to develop a much greater autonomy with regard to those matters that do not affect our fellow citizens south of the border."