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Pledge “Scottophobia”

"I will never vote for a party led by the representative (MP) of a Scottish constituency but only if 1,000 English voters will pledge to do the same until such time that England has its own parliament."

— Gareth Young

Deadline to sign up by: 17th October 2006
15 people signed up, 985 more were needed

Country: United Kingdom

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Gordon Brown seeks to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but since devolution to Scotland and Wales the Kingdom is not quite as united as it once was. Opposition parties and constitutionalists have begun to ask whether it is right for an MP elected in a Scottish constituency to become prime minister and form a government to draft and administer legislation concerning only England.

In Scotland the people elect a minister to the Scottish Parliament (MSP) to represent them on matters devolved to Scotland (health, education, transport, culture and sport). They also elect a Minister of Parliament (MP) to represent them at Westminster on 'reserved matters'. The people of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath elected Gordon Brown on these reserved matters. No UK voter, whether they be English, Scottish, Irish or Welsh, elected Gordon Brown to represent them on health, education, transport, culture, sport, or any of the other policy areas that are delvoved to the Scottish Parliament.

Yet should Gordon Brown succeed Tony Blair to become prime minister, he will hand pick a UK cabinet government to govern England and run English domestic policy. He will select which MPs become ministers of English departments - ministers with English portfolios, to run, for example, the English NHS, or the Department of Health to give it its correct name. He will have no such power over the Scottish government that affects his own constituents in Scotland, the people to whom he is democratically accountable. This is the so called West Lothian Question writ large. The majority of people in Scotland and England believe that it is wrong for Scottish MPs to vote on English matters, and whether or not it is acceptable for a Scottish MP to become prime minister is related to this.

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Comments on this pledge

  • In the name of democratic fairness I urge everyone to sign this pledge.
  • Those who seek to portray this opinion as based on nationality and therefore as racist betray their own bigotry. They clearly seek not only to obfuscate, either deliberately or ignorantly, the issue of a British Prime Minister unaccountable to anyone in England but also First Minister of England and able to impose measures on England that will not affect his/her own constituents but also to demonise the people of England who comlain about this imposition.
    Priscilla Cullen, 5 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
This pledge is closed for new comments.

Current signatories (Green text = they've done it)

Gareth Young, the Pledge Creator, joined by:

  • Al Wilson
  • Terry Heath
  • Mark Lowes
  • Eleanor Justice
  • Della Petch
  • John Joannides
  • k young
  • Gavin Ayling
  • Stephen Gash
  • HomeRuleforEngland
  • DAVE TKOCZ
  • Kevin
  • James Matthews
  • Ian Campbell
  • Fenn

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