The West Lothian Question or more specifically whether or not SNP MPs should be allowed to vote on matters that affect only the English people comes into focus again. There are a number of very obvious points.
Factoid: For the Labour Party this is a sacred cow. Without Labour MPs from the Scottish region (and here I am using Labour reality) the UK Labour Party lose 41 votes immediately; Conservatives 1 vote and LibDems 11 votes. I think that’s a no-brainer. English votes for English matters gives Conservatives a great advantage. Blocking SNP MPs from voting on English matters is a great sell for the Conservatives – OK, so it’s racist but Hey-Ho. I would like to see the Government try that one with another ethnic group?? How about Pakistani MPs not getting to vote on matters that do not affect the Pakistani community.
First of all, in a UNITED Kingdom how can you possible delimit anything to England only. If the village of Puddleduck (lots sound like that!) got authority to upgrade all their bus shelters – the village of Ochayeranoo in the Grampians could ask for the same deal?
When you become a candidate in the UK General Election the ‘ask’ is to be elected to the Parliament of the UK. I don’t remember anything about ‘a bit of the Parliament or the Parliament of a bit of the UK. I checked and the ‘U’ in UK apparently stands for United – hence Union in the run up to the Referendum. I just hope they did not lie to us?
But it gets worse. In Scotland, they have allowed us a mini Parliament where we debate how we will spend our pocket money – or in Cockney rhyming slang, our ‘Barnett’. Anyway, we have MSPs for our wee Scottish Parliament and big MP for the Westminster ‘hail to our Lord and Master’ Parliament. This is of course, common knowledge. Let me define ‘common knowledge’ – that which Paul Nuttall of UKIP knows diddly squit about, as witnessed in his petulant outburst on Question Time 22 Jan 15 from Eastleigh. ‘I hate Salmond, Sturgeon and basically the Scots, they’re all scrounger to the tune of £1,600 per head’. If he had aimed that at the Pakistani or Jewish community he would be in prison as I write.
So here’s the thing. The three main parties in the UK, Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat (apologies for putting main and LibDem in the same sentence) they do not have official registered standalone parties in Scotland. They have branches of their main party and their UK National Exec rules supreme. Hence the resignation of Labour’s Scottish leader Johann Lamont as the Labour National Exec dictated ranking and candidacy in their Scottish Regional Office. Of course, the three UK parties have a special tool to assist them in subjugating their outlying offices – it’s called the ‘whip system’. When we are considering the ‘right’ of SNP MPs to vote in Westminster, contrast this with Scottish MPs and more especially MSP (because they are subordinate to the UK National Exec) when engaging in matters Scottish or matters within the Scottish Parliament, they may be subject, directly or indirectly to a ‘3 line whip’. Put it another way, a Scottish MSP in the Scottish Parliament does ‘as he or she is telt’ from Westminster. Now that is a real issue, a constitutional crisis?
So let me summaries for clarity. When Labour, Conservative or Lib Dem MSPs vote in the Scottish Parliament we are actually seeing members of a party in Government or Opposition of another country, England, who are whipped by the Government or opposition of this other country, England, to vote in the Scottish Parliament – and they will ‘Dae as they are telt!’ by their Lords and Masters in England. Does that sound about right. And is it right when that another Government, in England, dispute the right of certain duly elected Westminster Members of Parliament to vote only when it suits the Government. If we are all in it together, then I think I know what IT is?
I DON’T WANT TO VOTE ON ENGLISH MATTERS – BUT I DON’T WANT TO BE IN AN ASYMMETRIC UNION
Lat me clarify ‘asymetric union’ with an example. If the Scottish turnout out the General Election in 2015 is 100% and everyone votes SNP and in rUK the turnout is 10% with 9% Conservative and 1% BNP would would have a Conservative/BNP coalition because a) we are outnumbered 11:1 and b) the establishment would never allow Scotland to dominate UK politics.
THE FACTS THAT WE HAVE A) AN ASYMETRIC UNION IN THE UK AND B) THAT WE HAVE A SUBSTANTIAL NUMBER OF SCOTS WHO MAINTAIN A BLIND ALLEGIANCE TO – SOMETHING NOT DEMOCRATIC – MEANS WE HAVE A MASSIVE TASK ON OUR HANDS. WE ALMOST OVERCAME THE FIRST POINT BUT WE MUST NOT UNDER-ESTIMATE THE SECOND POINT.
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