 |
Tam Dalyell, where are you?
 Tam Dalyell raised two questions in the 1970s, long before Scotland had devolution to ask his Parliamentary colleagues (see "What was the West Lothian Question, and why is it important?") as to whether or not it was "right that MP's elected to Westminster from Scottish constituencies have no ability to affect the issues of their constituents which have been devolved to the Scottish Parliament" and he also asked "If power over Scottish affairs is devolved to a Scottish Parliament, how can it be right that MPs representing Scottish constituencies in the Parliament of the United Kingdom will have the power to vote on issues affecting England (including those that don't affect Scotland), but English MPs will not have the power to vote on Scottish issues?"
Now 30 years later we still find that the scurrilous nature of political party politicians led to a collusion by all to ingnore these essential questions. As a result, as we all know, the Labour Party in particular gains advanatge by being able to impose its policies on the population of England whose main representation in Parliament is Conservative MPs. This unacceaptable state of affairs does not benefit the Conservative Party, indeed it works against their interests, and yet after 30 years they have still dont nothing about this. The Labour Party and the Conservative Party proclaim their pedigree as "Unionists" and yet they permit activities and actions to continue which have led to divisions between the people of Scotland and England.
Independence sustains freedom of perception and thought
Tam Dalyell always set an outstanding example of someone who could see issues clearly simply because he was a Labour "independent". He was careful to avoid the situation of allowing himself to become intellectually shackled to the moribund and intellectually deficient orientations of party whips which as we have witnessed, places party over country.
Euro-warp
We need such independence of perception, thought and expression now on the issue of the European Union. This need can be appeciated in the blinkered way in which each political party expresses its priorities on Europe in line with poorly developed party positions.
The Labour Party, resisting any direct say in European affairs by the British population avoids committing European decisions to referenda, as has been the lamentable "convention" of political parties for some 30 years.
The Conservative Party insist there should be a referendum on the current Amending Treaty because this is in fact a version of the former European Constitution. The Conservative basis for demanding a referendum is that the Labour Party promised such a referendum on the original constitutional document.
The Liberal Democrats have lurched towards a more relevant issue but suggest asking the wrong question, that is they want a referendum on whether or not the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union.
Free thinking is an imperative to democratic survival
All of these political party positions simply miss the main point. It is a point which is unlikely to be missed by independent politicians who tend to look at what is right and what is wrong.
The current questions relating to the European Union are the following:
"Is it right that British minority governments continue to impose their decisions of national subjugation to the European Union without any reference to the people subject to such impositions, the people of Britain?
and
"Is it right that British Laws and the freedom of the people of this country should continue to be exposed to increasingly arbitrary, corrupt and politicized European Courts?"
and
"Is it right that people from European Member States should be able to migrate to the United Kingdom to specific English constituencies, in such numbers, that they can vote and determine the outcome of municipal elections against the wishes of local communities?"
Posted: 23rd September, 2007.
|
|