A core document neither the Yes nor the No side appears to take heed of is the Claim of Right (Scotland)
1689 by which Elizabeth, Queen of Scots holds her throne in Scotland and
gave her oath to uphold the night prior to her English Coronation at
Westminster in 1953.
The legal and constitutional principle of 'The people of Scotland are sovereign', first arises in the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. The concept was written in to Scots Law by the Scottish Parliament of 1328, reasserted in the Great Covenant of Scotland which triggered the erroneously named 'English Civil War' and was made formal legal statute in the 1689 Claim of Right (Scotland) - a statute which remains in 'law' to this day.
It is to this 1689 Statute which Lord Cooper referred in McCormack vs the Lord Advocate which forced the Lord Advocate to concede on the UK Parliament's behalf:
The legal and constitutional principle of 'The people of Scotland are sovereign', first arises in the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. The concept was written in to Scots Law by the Scottish Parliament of 1328, reasserted in the Great Covenant of Scotland which triggered the erroneously named 'English Civil War' and was made formal legal statute in the 1689 Claim of Right (Scotland) - a statute which remains in 'law' to this day.
It is to this 1689 Statute which Lord Cooper referred in McCormack vs the Lord Advocate which forced the Lord Advocate to concede on the UK Parliament's behalf:
- The people of Scotland are sovereign
- The UK Parliament has no role to play in any changes or alterations to the Treaty of Union - including its dissolution under the conditions of the 1707 Treaty of Union
- The considered will of the sovereign people of Scotland is always paramount
What
this means is if it is the considered will of the sovereign people of
Scotland, on the 18th of September 2014, to end the Treaty of Union then
as of the announcement of the result the two Acts of Union of the
sovereign parliaments in existence prior to to 1707 become null and
void, the UK Parliament ceases to have any legitimacy in any legal or
constitutional sense and the British mainland returns to being made up
of two successor states, the two states which existed prior to the 1707
Treaty of Union - Scotland on one hand with England and Wales (plus
Northern Ireland), now referred to as rUK, as a shorthand, on the other.
This view had been confirmed by Dr Barker, a world expert on the UK constitution at Oxford, who has stated that for a rUK Parliament to have any legal or constitutional legitimacy it will require to be elected by the the people it now serves. In other words Cameron and the rest can not enter into negotiations with a sovereign Scotland until they have a mandate from their new electorate to do so. This means a snap rUK General Election in late October early November 2014 on a Yes vote which in itself brings some serious political problems for both Labour and the Tories at Westminster with the rise and rise of UKIP. To what extent will both Labour and the Tories of the rUK have to shape their policies in an attempt to negate this xenophobic UKIP politic from wrecking their 'nice earner' and hegemony over England and Wales. A UKIP balance of power post the first rUK election in October / November 2014 can be nothing but an ill wind for any sensible negotiations to end the Union as they will play their 'Little Englander' card to the full, especially against 'sweaty jocks'.
As the potential economic, financial, social and political consequences of a Yes vote begin to raise their ugly head for those at the heart of the 'London centric' UK Union and the future rUK, the more outrageous the claims made to 'save Scotland from herself' become.
In the back ground a secret visit to Shetland by Cameron, personally, to get the new 1.75 billion barrel (current estimate but likely to get bigger) Claire Field find to the west of Shetland announcement embargoed until after the 18th of September 2014 - is just one example of how Westminster treats its 'Jocks'; as if we zip up the back. A quick check of the oil and gas trade papers quickly exposed this new scam as Westminster tries to cling on with increasing desperation and hysteria.
This view had been confirmed by Dr Barker, a world expert on the UK constitution at Oxford, who has stated that for a rUK Parliament to have any legal or constitutional legitimacy it will require to be elected by the the people it now serves. In other words Cameron and the rest can not enter into negotiations with a sovereign Scotland until they have a mandate from their new electorate to do so. This means a snap rUK General Election in late October early November 2014 on a Yes vote which in itself brings some serious political problems for both Labour and the Tories at Westminster with the rise and rise of UKIP. To what extent will both Labour and the Tories of the rUK have to shape their policies in an attempt to negate this xenophobic UKIP politic from wrecking their 'nice earner' and hegemony over England and Wales. A UKIP balance of power post the first rUK election in October / November 2014 can be nothing but an ill wind for any sensible negotiations to end the Union as they will play their 'Little Englander' card to the full, especially against 'sweaty jocks'.
As the potential economic, financial, social and political consequences of a Yes vote begin to raise their ugly head for those at the heart of the 'London centric' UK Union and the future rUK, the more outrageous the claims made to 'save Scotland from herself' become.
In the back ground a secret visit to Shetland by Cameron, personally, to get the new 1.75 billion barrel (current estimate but likely to get bigger) Claire Field find to the west of Shetland announcement embargoed until after the 18th of September 2014 - is just one example of how Westminster treats its 'Jocks'; as if we zip up the back. A quick check of the oil and gas trade papers quickly exposed this new scam as Westminster tries to cling on with increasing desperation and hysteria.
Forget the polls, forget the propaganda around the 'Big Debate', Westminster is circling its wagons for a last stand which says far more about the state of play, a state of play reflected in canvassing returns across Scotland which continue to run towards a Yes vote and away from No, as the months have become weeks and the weeks are becoming days.
It is not Eck or Nicola or Dennis or Blair or any other talking head who will get Yes across the line, it is each one of us, committed to a Yes vote, who will make this happen, by speaking openly and honestly about why we believe a Yes vote is the just beginning to finding solutions to many of Scotland's current problems, problems which the UK Parliament is not interested in addressing as they are useful to facilitate their control of Scotland of which poverty and unemployment are just two such levers.
Sovereign power lies with each and every member of the Scottish electorate to make clear our considered will. We need to be very clear who is boss in Scotland;
We; the people.
It is not Eck or Nicola or Dennis or Blair or any other talking head who will get Yes across the line, it is each one of us, committed to a Yes vote, who will make this happen, by speaking openly and honestly about why we believe a Yes vote is the just beginning to finding solutions to many of Scotland's current problems, problems which the UK Parliament is not interested in addressing as they are useful to facilitate their control of Scotland of which poverty and unemployment are just two such levers.
Sovereign power lies with each and every member of the Scottish electorate to make clear our considered will. We need to be very clear who is boss in Scotland;
We; the people.
Excellent post, very enlightening and very true. Thank you sir. I see Dumfries has YES ahead, I think it's a survation poll. YES Dumfries
ReplyDeleteI must admit Peter that I had some doubts about the sovereignty of the Scottish people until Cameron signed the Edinburgh Agreement.
ReplyDeleteThat confirmed for me that Westminster recognised Scotland as a country and that the people of that country had the right to decide their future through the ballot box.
It's a pity that HM press don't accept this as well but we can deal with them in due course.