Plan C proposes that, having repudiated the Section 30 process as an affront to democracy, the SNP should include in the party's manifesto for the coming Holyrood elections a commitment that if elected an SNP Scottish Government will immediately assert the exclusive competence of the Scottish Parliament in all constitutional matters preparatory to proposing the dissolution of the Union subject to a referendum that shall be entirely made and managed in Scotland.
Any referendum that is held not having been sanctioned by the British Prime Minister must be sanctioned by the Scottish Parliament. To do that the Scottish Parliament would have to assert its competence in constitutional matters (UDI in all but name.)
I might consider Nicola Sturgeon's new-found fighting spirit more convincing if she hadn't previously intimated that the Section 30 process was the only 'legal and constitutional' route. She seems to have changed her position on that. It turns out those of us who have always insisted that a Section 30 order was not necessary were … Continue reading Almost there!
My fear is that the National Assembly will end up being a stage-managed affair in which the SNP leadership's approach to the constitutional issue - labeled Plan A - is set against the so-called Plan B proposed by Angus Brendan MacNeil MP and Councillor Chris McEleny, to the exclusion of any other arguments.
Those who consider themselves part of the wave of democratic dissent risen in Scotland must decide whether they are content to remain a dissenting tendency within the British state or whether they want to be a countervailing power - and are prepared to organise accordingly.
It says something about the persistence of national identity that the ancient nation of Scotland survived the Union as more than just an annexed territory of England-as-Britain. More than just a premium brand and a tourist destination. More than merely a source of labour, skills and fodder for the British war machine.
That's the whole story. The Scottish Government wants to address a situation in Scotland with measure tailored to the situation in Scotland. The British government doesn't want that. Not that they actively want more people to die. Just that they actively don't care if more people die. It is not a factor in their political calculations. Other than that it suits the British establishment's agenda if a situation worsens under an SNP administration. The situation worsening bit is a factor. The people dying bit isn't.
Oversight of broadcasting is a signifier of the nationhood that the British are determined to deny to Scotland.
We do not go to court. We go to the people. We do not concern ourselves with legality but with democratic legitimacy.
All the powers of a nation rightfully are vested in the Parliament democratically elected by the people of that nation. The Parliament which can claim democratic legitimacy is the only Parliament which may rightfully exercise the powers vested in their Parliament by the people.
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A blog by Iain Lawson
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