Dear All
When the SNP were campaigning for Holyrood, they said that if elected they would put jobs and the economy first and leave the referendum question to late on in the second half of the Parliament.
I support that.
When the issue of the referendum was floated in the last Parliament I was unhappy for that to go forward.
Why?
In order to win a referendum; the SNP Government had to establish a track record of good governance over several Parliaments.
Because a track record is based on facts!
And if you want to convince people of your argument then you need to ensure that it is fact based as well as having the passion and courage of your convictions.
When the vote never went ahead it was the correct decision.
Down in Westminster, there is a war of war of words over an independence referendum which has intensified on the eve of the Scotland Bill comes back before MPs in the Commons.
The Scotland Bill if it is not amended in line with SNP thinking should be rejected by the Scottish Parliament.
The whole Bill rejected.
At Westminster, the Conservative MP for North East Somerset, Jacob Rees-Mogg has tabled an amendment to the Scotland Bill.
He wants to force an early referendum on independence on Scots organised by Westminster instead of the Holyrood Government.
Rees-Mogg’s amendment is contrary to pledges made by Prime Minister David Cameron that the SNP had earned a mandate for their manifesto pledge to hold a referendum in the latter part of their term of office.
And also Tory MP David Mundell has jumped into the fray screaming about the UK Supreme Court being brought in if wording on the referendum is not agreeable to Westminster.
Alex Salmond’s spokesman described Mundell’s latest intervention as “more and more confused”.
The SNP Government has an overwhelming mandate from Scotland to bring forward its own referendum and in its own time.
We shouldn’t allow the English Government to stop us being a free country like the others in the Commonwealth.
The SNP spokesman added:
“They have gone from a position of saying there should be two referendums to accepting there should only be one, and now Scotland’s sole Tory MP appears to be suggesting he wants to veto any yes vote for more powers for Scotland’s Parliament.
“We regard this latest briefing as more of a muddle than an attempted Tory fiddle – and we are content to instead proceed on the basis of the Prime Minister’s clear and unambiguous statement respecting the right of the Scottish Parliament to bring forward an independence referendum, with no obstacles put in the way of a democratic vote by the people of Scotland.”
On Rees-Mogg; he added:
“The Scottish Parliament is perfectly capable of bringing forward its own referendum proposals, and the SNP Government has an overwhelming mandate from the people of Scotland to proceed on that basis, offering them a clear question in a free and fair vote.”
Rees-Mogg’s amendment states that the Scotland Act would not come into force until a referendum, to be held within four months of it receiving Royal Assent.
It would ask:
“The Scotland Act increases the powers devolved to the Scottish Parliament. Should there be full independence for Scotland instead?”
To put pressure on for improvements in the Scotland Bill, Alex Salmond will publish a paper this week setting out the arguments for Holyrood having full control over the Crown Estate north of the Border, including its revenues from marine renewables.
The paper will accuse the Crown Estate Commissioners of acting since devolution to reduce its accountability by ending the treatment of Scotland as a separate management and accounting unit.
It will argue:
“The CEC is a UK public body responsible to the Treasury. Its responsibilities in Scotland include Scotland’s territorial sea-bed out to 12 nautical miles, and almost half of the foreshore. CEC also has responsibility for leasing the sea-bed for renewable energy and carbon storage out to 200 nautical miles. Under the Scottish Government’s proposals, the revenues arising from the management of the Crown Estate in Scotland would be reinvested in promoting sustainable development, and supporting rural and island and coastal communities. The Scottish Government advocates a proportion of the surplus revenues being invested in the development of Scotland’s offshore renewables sector, and a share [being] used for community benefit around Scotland’s shores.”
Here is a list of Commonwealth Countries.
Antigua and Barbuda
Jamaica
St Lucia
Australia
Kenya
St Vincent and the Grenadines
The Bahamas
Kiribati
Samoa
Bangladesh
Lesotho
Seychelles
Barbados
Malawi
Sierra Leone
Belize
Malaysia
Singapore
Botswana
Maldives
Solomon Islands
Brunei
Darussalam
Malta
South Africa
Cameroon
Mauritius
Sri Lanka
Canada
Mozambique
Swaziland
Cyprus
Namibia
Tonga
Dominica
Nauru**
Trinidad and Tobago
Fiji Islands*
New Zealand
Tuvalu
The Gambia
Nigeria
Uganda
Ghana
Pakistan
United Kingdom
Grenada
Papua New Guinea
United Republic of Tanzania
Guyana
Rwanda
Vanuatu
India
St Kitts and Nevis Zambia
Pretty must all of these countries have one thing in common; they are all free and run by their own people.
Scotland is not!
Scotland, its people and resources are controlled by an English Government.
It is time to part company and be a nation again.
update.
Given the disaster that the SNP has made of Scottish independence campaign, it is now dead, Alex Salmond has shown he isn't the right man to lead an independent Scotland.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
No comments:
Post a Comment