Scotland’s Jewish community ‘unlikely to be affected by further devolution’

A senior leader of Scottish Jewry has insisted the community is unlikely to be affected by further devolution given that “more than 90 percent of day-to-day life is already governed” from Holyrood.

The comments came hours after the Scottish people rejected independence from the UK by 55 percent to 45 percent – a larger margin that the polls had forecast – and as David Cameron confirmed he would honour a pledge to transfer further powers away from Westminster.

“This is a decisive result, reached after an unprecedented level of participation, said Ephraim Borowski, of the Scottish Council for Jewish Communities.

“While we wait with interest to learn details of the further powers that have been promised, it is important to note that more than 90 percent of day-to-day life in Scotland is already governed from Edinburgh, so the Jewish community is unlikely to be significantly affected.”

He said the community had been engaged in “constructive” talks with the Government about reassurance measures following the recent rise in anti-Semitic incidents “and are hopeful that these will shortly reach a successful conclusion.”

Borowski added: “We will continue to work with the elected Scottish Government to achieve the best possible outcomes for the community.”