Referendum challenge: 'Salmond's best chance is to stick to his plan'

WENDY ALEXANDER's challenge to the SNP to hold an early referendum on independence may at first glance appear to be playing into their hands.

But the only surprise is that it has taken Labour so long to realise that it will force the SNP to answer some difficult questions which up to now they have been able to avoid.

It may also give Labour and others opposed to the break up of the Union the opportunity to bury the whole independence question for a considerable time, something that even Alex Salmond seems to desire these days.

While in the relative political wilderness of opposition it has been easy for the SNP to persistently call for change and hail independence as the answer to many of Scotland's ills. But now they are in power they have found themselves in the more difficult position of having to explain why this would be so. They have yet to define exactly what independence will actually mean and they run the real danger of alienating a large section of the electorate by spelling out the detail – something which some at the helm of the party are only too well aware of.

Since the heady days of the election victory when Mr Salmond boldly pronounced plans to hold a referendum, the subject has gradually slipped down the list of political priorities.

Certainly there have been conversations and conventions, but little else. And there is much work to be done if Mr Salmond wants to put the question to the country in 2010. All polls continue to suggest there is still no great appetite for independence and certainly before being asked to make a choice many will want to know exactly for what they are being asked to vote.

Would Scotland become a completely standalone nation or seek to maintain some ties, political and cultural, with other parts of the UK? Mr Salmond says he would continue to recognise the Queen as head of state, but would he say the same about Prince Charles?

Mr Salmond's best chance of maintaining the momentum from his solid performance to date is to stick to his plan to ask for the go-ahead to enter independence negotiations rather that go into the detail. Ironically, to do anything other would risk tearing the SNP apart.

Although Tory leader Annabel Goldie is opposed to a referendum, there are those within her party that side with Ms Alexander in wishing to force the issue sooner rather than later.

Ms Alexander has thrown down the gauntlet to the SNP, but dare they pick it up? The independence question is far from a straightforward yes or no and poses more dangers for Nationalists than Unionists. The problem for Mr Salmond is how he resists a growing clamour for a vote and not be seen to be running away from his party's ultimate goal and the one thing that binds it together.