ROBERTSON SEEKS TIMETABLE ON ACT OF SETTLEMENT REPEAL.

ROBERTSON SEEKS TIMETABLE ON ACT OF SETTLEMENT REPEAL.

‘CROSS-PARTY AND CROSS-FAITH CONCERN’

SNP Westminster leader, Angus Robertson MP, has called on the Prime Minister to announce a timetable for the repeal of the Act of Settlement after it emerged that the PM and Palace have discussed plans to change the rules of succession to the throne, including giving female members of the Royal Family equal rights.

The House of Commons today (Friday) debated on the Royal Marriages and Succession to the Crown (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill.

Mr Robertson said:

"The Act of Settlement represents clear institutional discrimination against millions of our fellow citizens, and we need a clear timetable for its removal from the statute book.

"This is an issue of cross-party and cross-faith concern. The Act is state sectarianism and has no place in a modern society.

“The Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government and Catholic church in Scotland have long called for this institutional discrimination to come to an end to send a signal to society as a whole that religious discrimination of any kind and at any level is unacceptable.

“Changing the Act of Settlement allows us to deal with a fundamental issue of discrimination; it enables us to state clearly that discrimination is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in a modern country.

“I welcome reports that Downing Street and the Palace have been in discussions, but it has taken long enough to address this problem. The UK Government must act to bring forward real reforms and end institutional discrimination however high up it is.”