Independent Scottish parliament by May 2016 targeted by Alex Salmond
Alex Salmond has laid down a road map to independence for Scotland, for the first time outlining the question voters will be asked in referendum in 2014 on ending the 305-year-old union with England, and naming May 2016 as the target for elections to a post-United Kingdom parliament in Edinburgh.
In a Scottish government consultation paper, the first minister said the vote that will determine the future shape of the UK in the autumn of 2014 would ask a "clear and simple" question of Scotland's four million voters: "Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?"
The document estimates that the referendum – which could herald the greatest constitutional crisis in modern British history – will cost about £10m to stage.
After releasing the document, Salmond invoked the national poet Robert Burns, only a few hours before Scots celebrated Burns night. "The choices Scotland faces now are, fundamentally, matters of democracy," he said. "Our country is facing a new constitutional future and we must take the best path for our people."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jan/25/independent-scottish-parliament-may-2016