Wither the Union - through neglect, cowardice and appeasement

It's hard to choose between weeping and crying for the campaign to save the United Kingdom. The negative fear laden appeasement based campaign run by labour certainly deserves to lose based on how it had conducted itself. The positive case for Britain hasn't featured, but perhaps that's because it was conceded in 1997. John Major may well be proven right with his warning that we have 24 he's left to save the Union. Devolution conceded much of the ground, combined with the thinly disguised Anglophobia that the Scottish Lib Dems and Scottish Labour thought they could use to bloke the Conservatives from power for ever. But having unleashed that hateful demon they can no longer control their creation and if has become the unholy creator of the Nationalists. I could lay into the SNP here with their racist Anglophobic implications about Scots being the only ones who care, but I want to bemoan how the argument for the UK has been lost. Labour are primarily and chiefly to blame - with a side swipe at David Cameron for letting the bunch of numpties that are the Labour party in Scotland run anything. ( After all its not as if there isn't plenty of evidence of the mess they make from when they lead their party to destroy the UK economy under the previous government. )

For example Ed Miliband is today engadged in some soprt of Tory hating Dutch auction with the Nats today. What he doesn't get is when he boils the continuation of the United Kingdom to whether the Tories can be kept out he's effectively undermined the case for staying in. ( Yes the people of a future Scotland would have top learn that "The facts of life are essentially Tory" the hard way - which is why they can't understand that from the imature position of current Scottish only politics ).

No one has dared to stand up to the Nationalists and say - you know what there is something good about the Union, and a key part of that is the English. If you really can't get over the Mel Gibson historical fiction then go ahead and leave - because you don't deserve to be in this Union.

Instead we have yet more appeasement of separation from the supposed Unionist side - who are laying the foundations of their own eventual defeat.

Instead we should make a positive pro-Union case - with no bribery, or threats, for voting for it, and a take it or leave it message.

Re: Will Tory government hasten end of United Kingdom?

Alan Cochrane asks this question in todays Telegraph, and I think there's a similar meeting on the Conservative fringe this week.

I post my answer below. Its a view that is just starting to gain some traction as one of Labour's former First Minister's of Scotland has suggested the same thing.

In short we need some thing positive to work towards, that respects the nations of the UK. If we don't offer it then people will eventually chose fission over the Union.

Alan,

I think joining forces with the authors of the Union's break up, ie the Lib Dems and Labour, would just make the SNP more popular. The pendulum always swings and one day its going to trigger the fission of the current Union.

That is almost impossible to avoid - appeasement (devolution) and bribery (Barnett formula) of Scots nationalism hasn't worked.

The only solution is to offer something new and positive.

Could I suggest that its a federal UK, with the home nations treated with equal intuitions and respect. ( Then Scotland will be just like everywhere else, rather than a quasi autonomous region in the waiting room for independence - as Brown and Cameron have it now ).

The signs are that the Conservative party hasn't even started considering these things ( the Clarke report is mindlessly useless ).

Its a shame I was always proud of being British, until it became a way to con the English and appease headbanging nationalists in the Scots Lib Dems, Scots Labour and of course SNP.

Is it time England got a lawyer ?

Hidden away amongst Gordon Brown's almost quixotic speech to the CBI in Glasgow are the seeds of the final break up of Britain. I say Britain as I think in the same way that many Commonwealth nations have the Queen as head of state, the Welsh, Scots and maybe Northern Irish would continue - the UK may continue as a lose or confederated arrangement.

Why say this ? Because its only inertia that holds Britain together now. Take for example the debate on Olympic teams for each home nation. The argument against a Scottish team made by Chris Hoy is not one of loyalty to Britain or his British team mates, but one of money. Equally the arguments against the moves to Scottish and Welsh independence are usually framed in terms of problems to be over come (like how to keep the tap of English money flowing / take all the Oil money ), almost never in compelling terms about Britain.

Now, under the Labour party's and lets not forget Liberal Democrats, devolution settlement all the main politicians for all the main party's in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will never need to travel or live in the rest of the UK. The Scots Labour party now seems to want direct control over its own Westminster MPs, the future careers of all the student/careerist politicians and over promoted shop stewards will follow the gravy to Cardiff and Edinburgh.

Unless someone changes the terms of this trade in influence and incentives then the break up of the Union is inevitable. ( I'm afraid to say that David Cameron's policies on this area are laughable - indeed Alex Salmond is waiting with the anti-English Tory elephant trap for Cameron to charge on in.)

The economy is the most immediate problem facing us, but the divorce of the Union is the most urgent.

Since none of our national political parties or politicians seem to have a clue on how to change the direction of events away from the regrettable break up of the Union its time to start thinking about how the split will happen.

Right now we have Scots and Welsh politicians eagerly negotiating for the maximum advantage for the fiefdoms rapped in the nationalist flags of their home nations. Sitting on the other side of the table are "British" politicians desperate to retain the Union, their only cards to play are selling English interests out.

In this road crash of a constitutional divorce the only country without a lawyer or representation is England. It isn't hard to imagine that the English will get the worse deal from this Dutch auction of our interests.

PS I wish that the Unionist politicians would create a positive vision of a fair and just Union, but they all see to just want to issue concessions to the Scots and Welsh whilst keeping the English in the dark.