A Labour back bencher's call to scrap the oath of allegiance to the Queen for Members of the Scottish Parliament was rejected last night by the Government.
Mr Dennis Canavan, MP for Falkirk West, said MSPs should be asked instead to make the historic Claim of Right affirmation acknowledging the sovereignty of the Scottish people.
Mr Canavan, whose plea was backed by SNP Leader Alex Salmond, told the Commons: ''The sovereignty of the people is surely the basis of any genuine democracy.
''We are Members of this House because we were elected by the people. Therefore our allegiance should be to the people, rather than to any king or queen.''
However Scottish Devolution Minister Henry McLeish rejected Mr Canavan's call during detailed report stage debate on the Scotland Bill, saying provision had already been made for all MSPs to take the oath of allegiance or make an affirmation.
He insisted: ''This is in line with current practice at Westminster and recognises the relationship between Parliament and Her Majesty.''
Mr Bernard Jenkin, (Conservative - Essex North), said the present oath ensured Members swore allegiance to the people via the constitution.
He warned any change could leave the Westminster Parliament's supremacy ''an empty shell''.
Mr Jenkin said: ''The Claim of Right is an inherently nationalist oath, not because it sets the people against this Parliament, but because it sets the Scottish people against the peoples of the rest of the United Kingdom.
''The sovereignty of this Parliament will become a supremacy which it dare not exercise
in defiance of a Scottish
Parliament.
''For the Union to continue to work, the Scottish Parliament will need to acknowledge the sovereignty of this Parliament.''
Eleanor Laing (Conservative- Epping Forest) condemned Mr Canavan's call as an ''atheist's charter''.
She said it would be a ''complete negation of the United Kingdom'' and the position of the Queen as Sovereign.
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