Welcome to Greater England!
Prior to the 2016 EU referendum, I devoted a great many words to warning that among the consequences of withdrawing from the European Union would be the possibility that the British state would use the opportunity this presented to constitutionally redefine the UK so as to lock Scotland into a ‘reformed’ Union. That didn’t happen. At least, not in the way I anticipated. But the warning may have been valid after all.
In Andy Burnham we have a British Prime Minister flying a kite about the creation of a written constitution for the UK. This should worry all who value Scotland’s identity as a nation distinct from England.
There cannot be a written constitution that doesn’t transform Scotland’s status within this newly defined UK. (I shall leave Wales and Northern Ireland out of this, as my focus is on the Union.)
The doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty and the principle of popular sovereignty are totally incompatible and irreconcilable. They cannot coexist in a written constitution. The Union is only possible because there is no written constitution. In writing a constitution for the UK, one would be obliged to choose between the Crown in Parliament and the sovereignty of the people. Sovereignty is absolute and indivisible. There cannot be two sovereign authorities because to be sovereign is to be the ultimate political authority. All political authority is vested in and derives from the sovereign. There cannot be two ultimate authorities.
The Union gives England-as-Britain the power to impose a constitutional status on Scotland without reference to the people. You might think they would never do that. But I invite you to look at the things the British state has done and is doing and then try telling us they’d shy away from imposing on Scotland a written constitution in which the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty is enshrined.
A written constitution would inevitably see the realisation of the Greater England project. It would be the final stage of England-as-Britain’s influence extending into Scotland.
A written constitution for the UK would all but certainly kill Scotland’s cause stone-dead. To imagine a written constitution for the UK would include a mechanism by which annexed territories could restore their independence is laughably naive.
I have long since thought that one of the main reasons why the UK 'constitution' is not codified is the conflict between the Scottish Claim of Right (1689) and the English Bill of Rights (1689) i.e. Scottish popular sovereignty and English parliamentary sovereignty.
Never the twain shall meet!
I note that John Swinney, Dave Dougan and the SNP are 'demanding' that any written document must include a description of how "UK nations can leave the Union".
You will recall how the promises of 'Home Rule, 'Maximum Devolution' and 'near Federalism' in the notorious pre-Scottish Independence Referendum 'Vow' were going to be realised via the Smith Commission of 2015. With John Swinney and Linda Fabiani as committee members the result was a whitewash, with the trap of tax rates and bands devolved etc to the Scottish Parliament.
If its Perfidious Albion versus John Swinney and his acolytes again then God help us.
So right Peter but nobody else seems to have noticed the danger... except you....the rest too busy criticising Craig Murray ..fantasy words or..ye canny do that!.....while foreign england formulates new plans to tighten the chokehold.....But we have a few moments of respite as burn'em is on holiday...a few weeks into the job and he disappears off to foreign climes...(ye doant think a wee break in Blackpool in yer £1000 trendy gear would have helped to relax ye jimmy?).. ..nah ....go somewhere abroad an' hide....where is he? Nobody knows..while the Prison Service prepares to stop the release of convicted rapists but happy to let convicted murderers back onto the streets..Good move burn'em! Enjoy yer holiday....it won't last..we are all here waiting for ye...
There is danger from this foreign englishman as he will offer cash ..bypassing our government...
( bang goes devolution..such as it is)..RH is correct..nothing is 'off THEIR table '..except OUR freedom.
Murray has a point....only an organised resistance will achieve anything..unless we get distracted by the 'burn'em bag o' sil'er.... so keep yer big hammer at yer back when dealing with the foreign english and their 'helpful ' offers... ( remember the Trojan Horse)..an' be prepared to use that big hammer...cos if ye tak' that 'sil'er ' an' spend it..at the end of the day...ye are still in the ever tightening foreign english chokehold...and independence recedes into the mist..
For OUR Scotland , her weans and those yet to come.