There is imbalance the other way round. South of the border, last year’s general election results show an England awash in blue. Scots Nats argue, with some justification, that the Tories’ unpopularity north of the border makes the union unworkable. The same argument can be made about the frailty of socialist parties south of the border. No wonder politicians worry about the ‘West Lothian Question’ — the term which describes the democratic niggle of Scottish MPs voting on policies which affect English constituencies but not their own. In 2004, the last Government introduced top-up fees in English universities on the strength of Scottish MPs’ votes (whereas Scottish students don’t have to pay any fees in Scotland). That has not been forgotten. We used, as a nation, to be proud of Great Britain, but the years of often raucous Scottish nationalist campaigning — I nearly said whingeing — and West Lothian Question injustices have dented that enthusiasm. Last week I took part in Radio 4’s Any Questions which was recorded in Harrow, North London. Scottish independence was mentioned and the programme’s chairman, Jonathan Dimbleby, asked the audience of about 300 to raise hands to indicate concern (or lack of it) about Scotland leaving the union. A clear majority indicated their nonchalance. My grandfathers fought in the two World Wars. My family has long been royalist. With Scottish, Anglo-Irish and Canadian blood in my veins, I should be a grandchild of Empire, unstinting in my support for a union which has served us for more than 300 years. But I simply can’t get worked up about it. I have tried to hurl myself into a unionist frenzy. Nothing happened. My heart remained as cold as a car battery on a January morning. We English have grown tired of being hated, of being blamed for everything, of being forever the indulgent paymaster and scorned cousin. For 30 years, under the Treasury’s Barnett Formula (under which of every £1 the Government distributes, 85p goes to England, 10p to Scotland and 5p to Wales), Scots have been treated to largesse by the English. The exact figures are disputed but the Labour Party calculates that UK subsidies are worth £14 billion a year to Scotland — that’s £2,600 for every person in Scotland. And still the rotten sporran-danglers complain! One-time demagogue Mr Salmond, to be fair, has dropped the anti-English rhetoric in recent years. Although there remain fundamentalists in the SNP who will conclude every political utterance with a sally against the Sassenachs, their leader has become more of a gradualist. Mr Salmond wants to appear ready for nationhood. That demands a trimming of the vitriol which used to see him spit out the words ‘Thatcher’ and ‘English Tories’ like melon pips. Mr Salmond himself may have matured but you do not have to look far for troubling anti- Englishness in Scotland. Two months ago a 65-year-old English widow decided to leave her home on the Moray coast after having ‘Go Home’ painted across the walls of her house. The leader of the Church of Scotland felt moved to deplore ‘sinister’ anti-Englishness. A University of Edinburgh study last year found ‘a general sense of underlying anti-Englishness’ against southern interlopers. I suspect this has often been a case of banter being misinterpreted, but it helps to explain English sang-froid about the idea of Scottish independence. They hate us? Well let them cut and run and leave us to our own affairs rather than continuing to pay for their free universities (while we face £9,000 a year fees), their free prescriptions (while we pay £7.40) and their higher unemployment. Scottish independence would in some ways be a giant divorce settlement. An independent Scotland’s economy might struggle at first. The Scots say they would be entitled to much of the North Sea oil revenue but that is now a ‘mature market’ — an industry euphemism for ‘nearly empty’. And Edinburgh’s reputation as a banking city has been harmed by the likes of Sir Fred Goodwin. Scotland has its whisky industry, some farming, oil-related technologies near Aberdeen and cheap-labour call centres, but the sheer size of the country and its sparse population makes stern demands on state funds. If separated from London, Scotland could give the oil industry greater tax breaks. Torn away from London’s teat, the country might rediscover the Calvinist entrepreneurship which made Scots such amazing colonialists. But what of the ownership of North Sea oil? Legal opinion is split. Similarly, who would keep the aircraft carriers which are being built in Scotland with great dollops of English tax money? What about the Crown’s Highland estates? Scotland has a population of about five million, but they are an expensive five million. Imagine not having to pay for them! There is another way Scottish independence could save us money. England would be unashamedly Right-wing and would therefore be able politically to reduce the benefits culture which has been established by Celtic socialism. It almost seems a samizdat thought: an England run for and by the English! One feels naughty just contemplating it. We could even have a BBC without Scottish accents. Goodbye Jim Naughtie. Adios Kirsty Wark. I’d be sorry to see Ronnie Corbett go but we could get rid of ghastly Frankie Boyle. Is it racist to float such frivolous ideas? I hope not. My first girlfriend was a doctor’s daughter girl from Dundee and my nanny (child-carer, to use the modern jargon) was from Edinburgh and I was devoted to her. My brother-in-law is a delightful Scot. My reaction to Scottish independence is not driven by animus. But can many English people truthfully declare that during the New Labour years they never felt a smidgin of irritation about the proliferation of Scottish accents round the Cabinet table? The English have had to endure a lot of Scottishness. For years we put up with John Reid and Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling and Robin Cook telling us what to do. Is it so very wicked to hanker for English freedom? Some eggheads say Scots independence is impossible because too many British laws would have to be rewritten. This is bluster. Scottish law has always retained an identity of its own and if the Scots did vote for independence, the current system would simply have to be unpicked. Parliamentary draftsmen can always craft a solution when they have to. More from Quentin Letts... 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The Euro may itself have bitten the dust by then. The Scots could decide to retain a fixed link to the pound, just as the Irish did with the punt for many years. Alex Salmond, for the moment, is putting it about that the Queen would be invited to be Monarch of Scotland. Would that invitation extend to Elizabeth II’s heirs and successors? Who knows? In Scotland the Union Jack would be replaced by the Saltire, but south of the border we could probably keep it, if only as a historical curio. Look at how popular the flag of St George has become in recent years, anyway. The wording of the Scottish referendum is not yet clear, but we can be certain the Scots Nats will mould it to their advantage. They are too canny to devise a referendum question which would result in the sort of slap in the face the naïve Lib Dems just received in the AV referendum. Any hope among unionists that a swiftly-held ‘in or out’ referendum will bury the independence question for a generation is probably misplaced. Salmond the gradualist will step with care. His transformation into father of a sovereign nation is not yet complete. There remain vestiges of the sausage-fingered radical, holding a stubby thumb’s-up to the camera lenses as he struggles to disguise his glee. But ‘Big Eck’ is not to be underestimated. Inwardly I shrug. I do not particularly want Great Britain to fracture into separate parts, but nor would I fight to keep the status quo. We could still visit the place. We could still have girlfriends from Dundee. We could even maybe keep Ronnie Corbett. But power to the Scottish people. Let them decide. If they want to go, let it be with our blessing. It might finally stop them complaining.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Feb 2014 14:01:27 +0000
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