Gordon Campbell on the troubled aftermath of Scotland’s independence vote
A week can be a very long time in Scotland’s 300 year struggle for independence. The “ No” vote last week that seemed to end the cause of Scottish
independence for a generation, has turned out to have had an enormous fish hook attached, especially for the British
Labour Party. The problem has emerged in the wake of promises made during the desperate scramble to head off the “Yes”
vote in the last week of the campaign. Before getting on to that though, have a look at just how skewed the vote for and
against independence was, among different age groups. By and large it was older people who bought the scare messages,
and voted” No” while young age groups, with one narrow exception, had voted “Yes”….
If that’s not depressing enough, what about the aftermath that’s now unfolding? As you’ll recall, a united front of
Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem leaders campaigned together to promise Scottish voters a package of new, devolved
powers on taxation and other issues if they voted “No”.
Since the “No” victory however, British PM David Cameron has sprung a trap on the Labour Party leader Ed Milliband by
appearing to add fresh conditions to the proposed devolution that were never mentioned to Scottish voters last week -
while simultaneously denying that he is doing any such thing.
An 11th-hour vow by the three Westminster leaders last week, promising more devolution if Scotland rejected
independence, has been in disarray after Cameron appeared to attach new conditions. The prime minister said on Friday
that negotiations on only English MPs voting on English laws "must take place in tandem with, and at the same pace, as
the settlement for Scotland".
Fears that the Tories were planning to renege on the pledge were fuelled when the Scottish-born Conservative chief whip,
Michael Gove, said on Saturday that it would be "impossible" to devolve further powers to Scotland without addressing
the position of Scottish MPs at Westminster.
As you’d expect, the defeated “Yes” supporters have been utterly outraged at this development. At the heart of the
shenanigans in the past 72 hours has been an anomaly that arises from the very nature of devolution. The anomaly even
has a term of its own – the “West Lothian question”. Essentially, it means that if devolution proceeds as promised,
English MPs will have no say on devolved matters in Scotland, but Scottish MPs can still vote on English-only matters.
Cameron has therefore proposed that if, as promised, Scotland has power devolved to Holyrood then only English MPs
should get to vote on legislation to do with England at Westminster.
There’s the trap. There is only one Conservative MP in Scotland, but there are a great number of Scottish Labour MPs. By
proposing “an only-English MPs for English-only issues” plan, the Tories would severely limit the ability of the Labour
Party to raise the numbers to oppose such legislation in the Commons. And if Labour opposes such a plan, it can be
attacked on the campaign trail for not being sufficiently patriotically English, when Britain goes to the polls next
year. If the Tories themselves don’t press home that attack, you can bet that their allies among the extremist UKIP
legions of Nigel Farage certainly will.
Cameron is using some fancy footwork to get this one into the net. No, Downing Street is insisting that the “English
only” proposal is not a fresh condition being imposed on the devolution promised to the Scots; it will merely need to proceed “in parallel”
with those ‘unconditional’ promises. Thus:
No 10 was forced to clarify Gove's remarks [above] saying the prime minister was committed to the timetable agreed by
the three main UK party leaders to hand greater powers over tax and welfare to the Scottish parliament. A government
source said: "There was an unambiguous commitment by the party leaders to deliver more devolution to Scotland on a clear
timetable. That is not conditional on anything else. No ifs, no buts – that will occur."
Government sources stressed that the two proposals – further devolution to Scotland and changing the status of Scottish
MPs at Westminster – should be considered in parallel and at the same time. But the sources said that progress in one
area would not depend on the other.
Is there another way out? Committees have been set up to explore a compromise proposal whereby English-only MPs get to
sit at the select committee stage, but the Commons as a whole gets to finally vote up, or down the legislation.
Presumably in time, an extension of the same logic will mean that only Northern Ireland MPs can get to scrutinise issues
affecting Belfast, and only Welsh MPs on matters affecting Wales.
It is a near perfect example of the sort of thing from which the “Yes” vote sought to liberate Scotland. How many “ No”
voters would have realised that by voting to keep Britain united they would be actually promoting an exercise in
political de-centralisation across the entire “United” Kingdom? Not many, if any. And this is even before Westminster
gets to consider Britain’s ties with Europe, and the growing Conservative mood for taking Britain – and Scotland along
with it – out of the European Union. Oh, and there have also been claims vote rigging occurred last week.
Goodnight…. Some critic once called “I Bid You Goodnight” the most beautiful song in the English language. Maybe. It is a lovely song from the Bahamas that functions equally well as either a funeral song, or a child’s lullaby. I first came
across it in the original version by the Pindar Family and the eccentric guitarist Joseph Spence (a big influence on Ry
Cooder) and the song has since been recorded by the Grateful Dead, the Incredible String band and countless others. Here
are two versions. One features a terrific theatrical enactment of the song by Patricia Bazard. The only Youtube video
that has a rendition by the Pindar Family and Joseph Spence has their typically strange and wonderful version of
“Trouble In Mind” on before it, with “I Bid You Goodnight” kicking in at the 3.42 mark…Its worth the wait.