Scotland and the UK - too late and too little from the Guardian?

Scotland and the UK: state of the union

This editorial in the Guardian reeks of a final  'Jam Tomorrow' appeal to us Scots .... can anyone see the 'Millicleggeron' giving up the powers required to let devolution in England work, let alone the creation of a federal / confederal UK parliament? Just where will they put the 1000's of unelected lardships - or will the English system retain them for Engaland alone?

This same editorial pap was peddled prior to 1979 - Sir Alex Douglas-Home anyone?

Here's how it is; devolution 'jam tomorrow' can not be delivered until austerity ends - 2018 at the earliest. In the meantime between 2015 and 2018 the NHS and Welfare system in Scotland will be dismantled and privatised under Westminster as the earliest any English Devolution Bill can come into force will some time after 2020, that's if they can get round the central constitutional problem raised by the Treaty of Union.

A new UK union treaty (required for a federal / confederal solution) can only be agreed between the English and Scottish sovereign parliaments as it is out with Westminster's legal and constitutional powers to change the nature of the current union. (Lord Cooper 1953; McCormack vs The Lord Advocate)

In the same four years (minimum) an Independent Scotland would retain the NHS as is and reform our Welfare system to suit our sensibilities while building a firm economy to support them for now and the future.

In the last quarter the swing to 'Yes' was 5% and the 'poll of polls' gap is down to 10%. The growing likelihood of a Cameron 'win' in 2015 increases the likely support for a 'Yes' in 2014 to 51%.

In a speech in Aberdeen Vince Cable admitted the North Sea Oil and gas sector is mainly in Scottish waters and is important to the UK economy as a major contributor. In 2011-12 Scotland produced enough energy from reusables to be self sufficient and supplied most of the 30% UK output. Wednesday saw IDS being sent home from Scotland with a hard slap for his Welfare Reforms. On the same day New Labour tried to grandstand on the 'Bedroom tax' at Holyrood and their spokesperson, Ms Baillie, was sent home to think again by Ms Sturgeon.

The 'Editor' of the Guardian wish to believe Severin Carrel's propaganda pieces for New Labour and 'Better Together' is clear in this patronising piece of journalism. The reality is this discussion should have been undertaken in 2007 when the SNP first took control in Holyrood. Instead New Labour, in the shape of Brown and Murphy, decided to 'slap Holyrood down' with all sorts of illegal adjustments to the Scottish block grant and cancelation of leading edge projects to 'show who was boss'.

The main progenitors of 'austerity' are all but empty husks in Scotland, Better Together's campaign falls to bits day after day with self inflicted disasters, Darling is increasingly seen as just another 'Toom Tabard' and New Labour's leader in Scotland's silence on things Ms Lamont claimed to hold dear, such as the removal of Trident and keeping Scotland's long tradition of free University education, is deafening.

There is a massive democratic deficit not simply between Scotland and Westminster but also Wales, Northern Ireland, the outer regions of England and Westminster. The solution to this breakdown and democratic deficit is not in the centralised, neo-liberal, fascist and plutocratic parliament at Westminster, as these turkeys will not be voting for Christmas very soon, but has to be from the outside.

The start of real political reform at Westminster will only occur with ending the current Union. The future could well see a Council of the British Isles, including Eire, to agree common measures and approaches within the EU and elsewhere. A British Isles Council which will gain more respect and world influence than being tied to the USA's coat tails, as Westminster's policies currently allow.

This is the vision of many of us Scottish 'separatists', a more democratic British Isles than we have at present, where sovereign states work together for their common good and whose internal politics meet the needs and expectations of their own electorates.

Waiting yet another decade for any form of pseudo political change and crack plastering just does not cut it. If Westminster was serious about devolution reform it would have allowed the Full Fiscal Autonomy option in the 2014 Scottish referendum with an accompanying UK White Paper detailing their UK wide plans. It did not, this tells me all I want to know about Westminster's devolution intentions or their real lack of intention.

Jam Tomorrow? No thanks, we got a decade of Thatcherism last time this line was fed to Scotland which created levels of poverty and unemployment in Scotland we are still trying to deal with and resolve.

There is an increasing sense amongst us pro-independence wonks that Cameron knows the 'gemme's a bogey' and is doing all he can to ensure a 'Yes' vote in 2014 for his own party political ends. It is clear David Milliband does not wish to be the Prime Minister of 'just England' and is 'offski'. What chance US citizen 'Senator' David Milliband within the next decade?