Tuesday 12 May 2015

Long live the Union; but wait, the Union is Dead.

The confusion amongst English commentators and politicians continues to reverberate around in the empty corridors of Westminster and inside the emptier heads of its journalist pack, take this swivel eyed 'The Martians are coming' piece from the increasingly and inaccurately named 'Independent' for instance.

The rabbit in the head light approach epitomises the failure to grasp who Scotland voted for on the 7th of May, with a level of constituency by constituency support across Scotland the Westminster parties across the UK would have died for.

The Scots know exactly what the SNP stands for; unlike the author of the Independent's piece whose hate glands have over ridden any remaining commonsense he might have had, as the shock of what happened in Scotland has left him so bewildered and stunned.

The problem he and many of the more, vapid posters (in the comments) have to grapple with is the Westminster Parliament is the UK Union Parliament and not the English Parliament. The arrival of 56 SNP MP's clearly gives lie to this assumption that Westminster is an English Parliament with a group of 'Sweaty Jocks' attached as a favour, 'Sweaty Jocks' who are to be seen but not heard. Instead there is a group of  SNP MPs backed by 50% of the Scottish electorate, a group of MPs who now represent the 'considered will of the people of Scotland' at Westminster, a 'will' - as Ms Sturgeon made clear in Mondays photo opportunity at Westminster - the SNP MP's will express at every turn.


The reality that FPTP, so beloved by so many English commentators, has delivered this constitutional situation - like an SNP majority at Holyrood - which was never meant to happen, is a problem the UK's unwritten constitution faces, one it is now going to have to grapple with and will expose many of its centuries of fudges and fault lines.

In 1953 Lord Cooper, Lord President of the Court of Session, stated two clear problems the UK's unwritten constitution had not dealt with:

  • That Scots Law and constitutional practice does not recognise the purely English concept of the 'crown in parliament'
  • What would happen if a Scottish based party gained a majority of Scottish seats such that it would wield the powers of 'the considered will of the people of Scotland' at Westminster rather than a Unionist Party. A 'considered will' which on two occasions since 2010 the UK Supreme Court has agreed with Lord Cooper as being 'paramount'.
England has to grasp the reality the Scottish people decided, by a slim majority, to give the UK Union another chance. It is time to understand the SNP are bound by the self same 'considered will of the people of Scotland being paramount' on this matter until such time as a vote on ending the Union is won.

The ball is now very firmly in Mr Cameron and the Tories court and how this party with one MP in Scotland as one of a triumvirate of Unionist Party seats in Scotland reacts, will decide whether the UK Union will last past 2020 or not.

Time for commentators and politicians in England to wake up and smell the roses. You got your wish for the preservation of the UK Union; now you, like Scotland, will have to learn to live with the consequences.

One of which is a strong Scottish voice in the Union Parliament for the first time in the 300 plus years of its existence.

2 comments:

  1. NS should say to DC "The settled will of the Scottish people is for Home Rule within the UK. I and the 56MP's are proclaiming Home Rule. All powers are hereby transferred with immediate effect to Holyrood except those powers that are necessary for the functioing of the Treaty of Union."
    DC has limited options
    1. Call this into question and get lawyers to sort it. TOO slow we will be long gone.
    2. Arrest NS and the 56 as traitors. - Civil chaos and indyref2 would follow
    3. Tanks in Scottish streets. - Civil chaos and indyref2 would follow.
    4. Withhold funding from Holyrood. - We set up a Scottish Central Bank(This sounds difficult but is relatively straightforward)

    In short DC has no outs.
    Acceptancemof Home Rule within the UK has the following positive outcomes
    DC gets EVEL and an intact Union
    Unionists everywhere get an intact Union
    Independence supporters get all the necessary powers to do what is required for Scotland
    Scotlands other treaty obligations remain intact including Nato and the EU

    Everyones a winner baby

    ReplyDelete