SO now we move to the next stage of the removal of devolution by Boris Johnson. I refer to the article in Saturday’s National, “Scotland’s civil servants furious after UK axes EU meetings” (August 31).
So, what have we seen? Well, first we had the clawback of devolved powers by Westminster – just for a limited period, you understand. Just so we can develop uniform policies right across the country as powers are returned from the European Parliament. These are devolved powers that should revert into the hands of the Scottish Government and not to Westminster. There is no valid reason for them to go anywhere near London.
Then there was the “British Government Office in Scotland”; set up in Edinburgh in such a way that the Westminster government will be able to sit in Edinburgh as well as in London. This was coupled with their stated policy that they will fund Scottish councils directly, over and above the funds they will receive from Holyrood. Again, these are Holyrood powers being grabbed back by Westminster.
Then Nicola Sturgeon, who was on official Scottish Government business, was denied diplomatic support last June. That is a sheer affront to our First Minister. Nicola was on telly herself recently and the tone of what I heard her say suggested that she is now wary herself about Boris Johnson’s intentions concerning Holyrood.
Now our civil servants are being denied the ability to discuss business with their European equivalents concerning matters that are important to both Scotland and Europe. Couple all this with Boris’s upcoming prorogation of the Westminster Parliament and his next step will be to close down Holyrood – just temporarily, you understand, while he gets his No-Deal Brexit through. If he is prepared to shut down Westminster, then it’s only a small step to also close down all the devolved parliaments.
Only, once it is through, it’s going to be necessary to deal with everything from Westminster except those matters pertaining to Scotland, which he will cover in perhaps monthly sittings of his Westminster government in Scotland. No doubt he will point to the benefits Scotland will be gaining through the patronage of our hotels by his many English ministers. And, of course, since they are conducting these political matters so well, and bringing all this business to the Edinburgh hotels, it seems a waste of money to restart the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood so we’ll just disband it altogether.
When someone is as prepared to ride roughshod over our democracy as Boris is, do not be surprised if this turns out to be a very accurate forecast of his proposed actions.
We need a referendum now, because it will be very difficult to try to organise one after the Scottish Parliament has been closed down. Please, SNP, BE WARNED!
Charlie Kerr
Glenrothes
AFTER reading the comments of Jim Lynch in Monday’s paper (Letters, September 2) about the UK Government not allowing civil servants to go to meetings in Brussels, I was struck by the idea that the Scottish Government should perhaps pay for their own civil servants to attend these meetings.
These meetings are, as far as I know, about devolved issues such as fishing, agriculture etc, so come under their remit. Can someone please advise me if this is possible?
As the Wee Ginger Dug has said on many occasions, we should start acting as if we already are a normal independent country. Let’s show the UK Government we are a grown-up country.
John Vosper
Port Glasgow
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