MINORITIES IN OTHER STATES
U.K.: Secession of Scotland?
If a Bill currently tabled in the House of Commons is passed on schedule, voters in Scotland will be asked sometime in September to say 'yes' or 'no' to two questions: "I agree that there should be a Scottish parliament" and "I agree that a Scottish parliament should have tax varying powers". In a parallel referendum, votes in Wales will also be asked whether they want an assembly.
According to an opinion poll commissioned last month by The Scotsman, Edinburgh's leading daily, 72 per cent of those polled said they would vote 'yes' to the first question and 61 per cent 'Yes' to the second 'Scotland says Yes, with a single voice", the paper declared in a banner headline, emphasising that support for devolution is wider and deeper than ever before.
When voters were given three options - independence, devolution or status quo - as many as 26 per cent indicated their preference for (independence).
The present Labour government, which is fully behind the idea of home rule, will soon publish a White Paper spelling out its views on what powers the new legislature will enjoy. But one thing is already clear: sovereignty will continue to be vested with Westminster.
None of the parties advocating a separate parliament would like to have its powers circumscribed from the start, not even Scottish Labour, whose grassroots dissatisfaction with the Westminster juggernaut has done so much to limit Mr. Tony Blair's options. Labour may have won 46 per cent of the Scottish National Party (SNP) weighed in with an impressive 22 per cent. The SNP's support runs at around 33 per cent when Scots vote for non-Westminster bodies like the European Parliament and will presumably be even higher in any contest for a Scottish parliament. If Labour turns its back on Scotland. Scottish Nationalism can only gain
The current yearning for radical constitutional reform has much to do with the impotence the Scots felt during the past 18 years of Conservative rule. According to Mr. Alan Miller, head of the Scottish Council for Civil Liberties, and "overwhelming feeling of disenfranchisement" set in amongst the Scots.
Scotland, in other words, realised that the archaic political institutions of the UK offered no possibility for redress and began to look more closely at its own traditions.
Rather than representing the renascence of a narrow nationalism, the Scottish movement today is a reflection of the grave crisis of democracy in Britain. And by refusing to modernise its institutions so as to recognise the aspirations of the Scots - since 1889, more than 34 Home Rule Bills have been introduced but never passed the British political elite has created a situation where the country could well be on the verge of breaking up. Even now, what 'New Labour' is promising is too little, too late. All proposals to introduce a written constitution, abolish the House of Lords and introduce a more representative electoral process have been more or less shelved. But in the absence of these, mere home rule will not satisfy the Scots.
Since independent Scotland as a civil society already exists - its legal and educational systems, for example, are separate from England's - the Scottish parliament will have to justify its existence in the eyes of its electorate. And it can only do this by asserting its sovereignty. Ultimately, it is how the English will react which will be decisive one way or another.
By all accounts, Scotland wants more than a change of form. Mr. Alan Miller says that for the Scots, rights are both an end and a means to an end. "The parliament we seek is one which will be a catalyst for the advance of democracy in Scotland". Mr. Blair may give the Scots back their parliament. But the Scottish Question is not going to go away.
(Source: The Times of India, 18 July, 1997)
Self-rule for Scots Editorial, The Hindustan Times, 15 September, 97
Scotsmen and women have nodded ayes in an overwhelming three-to-one verdict to end nearly three centuries of rule from London. Curiously, the impressive show of Celtic resolve also happened to coincide with the 700th anniversary of William Wallace's victory over the English the high turnout at the polls, dispelled pro-devolutionists' fears of voter apathy. This referendum may well be the beginning of the end of centralised British government.
Having their own parliament would (not) leave the people of Scotland scot-free to realise all their expectations, since key areas of governance-such as internal security-would still rest with the Home Office in London. Another major sticking point is likely to be the financial arrangements whereby the Scottish Parliament and executive will be financed, almost entirely means of a block grant from Westminster.
