Orkney, Shetland, Western Isles plan push for home rule after Scottish vote
Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles' leaders fear councils will be subsumed by islands authority
As First Minister Alex Salmond looks south and campaigns for an independent Scotland, leaders in the Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles to his north have begun talks among themselves about their own "home rule".
The leaders of the three largest island groups in the British Isles will meet in Shetland on Monday to discuss a joint project on whether they should demand to split from the Scottish and British governments after the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 - the date of which is expected to be announced on Thursday.
The convenor of Shetland Islands Council, Malcolm Bell, said the independence referendum offered an opportunity for the islands to carve out a new political settlement.
"There's no point in Westminster devolving powers to Edinburgh if they are going to stop in Edinburgh. When you're 300 miles (483 kilometres) from Edinburgh, or 700 from London, at those kind of distances, Edinburgh feels as remote as London," he said.
When you're 300 miles from Edinburgh, or 700 from London, at those kind of distances, Edinburgh feels as remote as London
The councils are investigating plans to model themselves on the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands or the Falklands, which are crown dependencies and largely independent from the British government, or to mimic the self-rule deal struck by the Faroe Islands with Denmark in 1948.