A settlement that should be based on devolution, not identity

The current settlement is based on national identity, opposed to a devolved body working to decentralise power and spread to local authorities. 

We are in the last few months of finding out whether Scotland remains part of the United Kingdom or separates; a separation that would be costly, aggressive and uncertain.  The stakes have never been higher and we who oppose separation have everything to lose, we have our country, identity and our currency all on the line- as well as much more.

 The nationalists however can win either way, they can still remain Scottish within the UK, and they can have an even larger platform to spread their nationalist-separatist agenda whichever way this referendum goes. After the referendum their platform which enables them to wage war on British unification and peace will inevitably gain more powers, with all three unionist parties agreeing to some new degree of autonomy.

New powers for the Scottish Parliament isn’t a bad thing- I agree that it needs more responsibility; it has to raise the money that it would like to spend. The blame game that the SNP continually put across has to stop, there can be no blaming Westminster when the Scottish Parliament is by large responsible for what it raises and spends in revenue.

All this talk of new powers does not address a fundamental flaw in the devolved settlement. The Scottish Parliament gaining more control over specific areas allows it to assert its influence more, and with a nationalist government this of course means that a very patriotic or nationalistic Scottish tune is implemented into new areas of Scottish executive control.

 This undermines the United Kingdom as a country, imagine a new Scottish customs and revenue, or the abandonment of British Transport Police- being phased out or replaced with something very Scottish- this in return over a long period of time will have Scots questioning the need for union- when the UK government has little or no importance to them in daily life.

The Answer is simple, we must not allow every ounce of power given to the Scottish Parliament to be ultimately centralised and painted with a nationalistic brush. The SNP government (if handed full control over welfare and benefits) would have every job centre in Scotland painted white and blue- with portraits of our dear leader Alex Salmond insight for all to see.  The evidence is already there, greener Scotland, healthier Scotland and all the other Scottish government nationalistic tainted programs for promoting Scotland as a nation, making sure we have the trademarks of separatism and nationalism in our faces at every opportunity.

There is a new consensus, in that the Scotland office should be given the ultimate responsibility over promoting Scotland within the UK all year round- yes it has being doing so at a satisfying rate since the start of the referendum; this shouldn’t end on the 19^th of September.

The Scotland office should have a core responsibility of promoting Scotland as a major part of the United Kingdom, to not only counter a heavy Scottish nationalist government, but for the sake of the future of our country, so that there is always a presence of UK unity in Scotland, and why it is worth staying part of our United Kingdom.

The UK government should being doing much more in assuring that the Scottish government does not exploit powers for separatist means. Devolution can work for unionism, only if it works with unionism- this is what the UK government and unionist parties need to understand.

The proposals by Scottish Labour to weaken the centralised Scottish Parliament and devolve more powers locally to residents are a prime example of what devolution should be used for. Devolution shouldn’t be a tool for separatism, or to promote nationalism. It should be used to deliver powers from central government and for the established body in Scotland to then deliver the powers equally between local authorities.

What has happened with devolution in Scotland thus far has been a failure; Scotland does not have devolution in a real sense. It has a centralised Scottish Parliament with a thriving nationalistic identity, with a government that does not share powers, but retains them- and exploits powers to disunite Scotland from the UK.

If Scotland had devolution, then the emergency services, educational establishments and other controlled responsibilities would have stayed in constituent parts, and not grouped into larger bodies such as Police Scotland and the merging of Scotland’s colleges. These bodies in question have also been branded largely Scottish- there is a clear political motive in regards to these mergers, and the SNP should be held accountable for them.

The problem we have in Scotland is clear, in 1997 Scotland was mistakenly given a devolved settlement primarily based on identity, and not based on the idea of real devolution. Scotland was given a parliament to serve national identity; not to serve local people, education, health or emergency services, yes the Scottish Parliament has control over these matters- but that is the problem- the Scottish Parliament has and always could have too much control being centralised in Holyrood over the powers that it receives from an equally as large UK centralised parliament- meaning devolution never really happens.

Scots have effectively been given a new Parliament, which does not recognise itself as a devolved piece of legislation, but as a national parliament that serves the people of Scotland, and in that you will find it very difficult for this symbolic body to transfer powers further to local authorities, especially with a nationalist separatist government in power.

If anything this referendum will open up the new debate on devolution; not how we can just give the Scottish Parliament new powers, but how we can make the powers go further down the chain of hierarchy and work for Scotland locally, ensuring Scotland has a devolved settlement that works for everybody in Scotland and not just the minority of separatists.