MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Johnson calls devolution of powers to Scotland “a disaster” increasing support for independence referendum
Johnson said granting Scotland self-governing powers introduced by former Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair, had been Blair’s ”biggest mistake.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson triggered anger Monday in Scotland when he called the decision to grant Scotland governing powers ”a disaster,” and said he did not support granting the nation any additional powers. The reported comments come as surveys show rising support for a second independence referendum.
British media report Johnson made the remarks in a virtual meeting with northern English lawmakers from his Conservative Party. He said granting Scotland self-governing powers – or devolution - introduced by former Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair, had been Blair’s ”biggest mistake.” Johnson's office did not deny the comment.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, proponent of an independence referendum, responded on Tuesday to Johnson’s comments via Twitter.
“Worth bookmarking these PM comments for the next time Tories (Conservatives) say they’re not a threat to the powers of the Scottish Parliament - or, even more incredibly, that they support devolving more powers. The only way to protect & strengthen (the Scottish parliament) is with independence.”
Scots rejected an independence referendum in 2014 by a vote of 55 to 45%. But relations have soured following the Brexit vote which Britain supported and Scotland rejected, and by what has been viewed by many Scots as the British government’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Recent public opinion surveys show a majority of Scots support independence.
British Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick sought to defend Johnson's comments, saying the disaster the prime minister referred to was the rise of nationalism in the form of Sturgeon's Scottish National Party.
SNP lawmaker Drew Henry said Johnson’s comments showed his and his party’s “contempt” for the people of Scotland.
“Effectively what they are saying is it’s alright for Scotland to have devolution as long as they vote for the Westminster party we want them to,” he told the BBC.
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Read all commentsAs James VI of Scotland knew, a second parliament in Edinburgh was a stupid idea, so when he united his kingdoms he put ALL the parliaments in one place London. The idea of a third parliament in Strasburg for only 5 million today would have never crossed the mind of James VI!
Nov 18th, 2020 - 01:17 pm 0We must look at this also through Marxist eyes: Breaking up of the Empire in the 1945 landslide, Breaking up of the Union 1997 landslide, “things can only get better” gave us a catastrophic ENGLISH debt to save the banks by the hands of a Scot, then came the obvious Gordon Brown Austerity, great part of our gold gone, the Kingdom broken up and also it gave us Sturgeon!
Bad as all that is 2019 “HM Loyal Opposition” thrown at the UK leavers of power could be directly linked to Marx and the IRA ideologically! Not Scotland but England is what is really the Marxist's target. The idea of an English Parliament and English Nationalism, now that is really terrifying to Marxist minds. It would have been better if England had stayed put and been “digested” by the EU in an “ever closer union”. Any way there is still an antidote to England and the Marxists have been preparing it for quite some time. It is what we all saw on June 7th. 2020 with the black lives Marxists and the attack on all our culture, our greatness, our flag, there is great instability everywhere, as the Chinese curse goes, these are interesting times. (Ah that reminded me of China!)
A good chunk of my family came from Scotland and I have visited a lot. As an American, I see the idea of Scottish independence to be quite absurd and frankly self-destructive. Not only are the Scots not really discriminated against in the modern world (and EVERYONE in Britain outside of London rightfully complains of London's dominance of the British nation), but their culture has in fact been highly integrated into general British culture for centuries and Scots in fact play an outsize, even favored or dominant, role in British society, especially given their small population. At the same time they already have and maintain their own local legal system and since devolution great autonomous control over many important areas of local life. The atavistic clan hatred of the English - and other Scots - that exists (and a lot of clan stuff is quite benevolent and reasonably historic, even if the tartans and kilts were actually mostly invented by English cloth manufacturers in the19th century) is only on the same detestable level as the drunken loutishness of too many young men everywhere, and is not a basis for becoming a very small separate country. Most of the Scots I know (including my grandmother who is from the same hometown as the First Minister) love and are proud to be both part of Great Britain and Scottish at the same time, and see no contradiction whatsoever. Sensible Scots realize that they are being lead down a path of economic ruin based on ridiculously out of touch nationalism - one thing they have never lost, quite rightly, is their sense of identity; within the UK and far beyond. An independent Scotland becomes a very small player on the world stage. The Irish fought for independence for centuries. As soon as they got it they started moving to the mainland in droves! Today there are more Irish living in England (and far more in the US) than in Ireland. This issue of independence was conclusively decided at Culloden. Case closed. Where is the Duke of Cum
Nov 19th, 2020 - 05:51 am 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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