A frank and articulate assessment by Peter A Bell Im not sure what is most tragicomic here. Is it the sight of a defunct former British Prime Minister posing as a wise elder statesman? Or is it the attempt to pass of the drivel that oozes out of this pathetic figure as a vision for Scotland? The irony which will surely escape Brown and other British nationalists is that his whole argument amounts to an admission that the union has failed Scotland. It is an acknowledgement that the union is broken. And what is offered is not a bold plan to repair it but a desperate and entirely selfish plea to the people of Scotland not to upset the arrangements that allow Brown to swan about the globe pretending to be someone of significance - and get very nicely rewarded for it too. There is no vision here. Just an incoherent mess of puerile platitudes, insubstantial suggestions, vague promises and ill-thought ideas. Even if any of the stuff Brown talks about was achievable in the face of opposition from his own party and Westminster, it is so much less tan we might have with independence. He offers no reason why we should sell ourselves short. He just hopes that we will. This is the very epitome of empty rhetoric. Where it is not incomprehensible or nonsensical, it is downright dangerous. There can be no written constitution for the British state. A written constitution worthy of the name would necessarily act to curb the power the ruling elites. It takes some magnificent naivety to believe that the ruling elites would volunteer to loosen their grip on power. The flexibility of a non-existent unwritten constitution serves them very well. Besides, a written constitution and or Bill of Rights would be inconsistent with the concept of parliamentary sovereignty which is the very foundation of the British state. This simply cannot coexist with the acknowledgement of popular sovereignty implied by a written constitution. In much the same way, talk of a constitutional lock guaranteeing the permanence of the Scottish Parliament is nonsensical. Even if it was constitutionally feasible in the context of the British state - which it isnt - Brown is actually suggesting this while urging the people of Scotland to vote AGAINST securing the powers and the very existence of the Scottish Parliament. He is insisting that the people of Scotland take the power that they will hold in their hands on 18 September and hand it back to the ruling elites of the British state. In a characteristically confused and inept argument, Brown is demanding that the people of Scotland give up the right to determine for themselves what powers their parliament should have and trust others to use the authority that they have forfeited for the purpose that they would choose rather than for the purposes of the ruling elite. Its little short of madness! Where it gets dangerous is with the talk of “A ‘radical’ transfer of powers downwards from Westminster and Edinburgh to local communities.” We can discount talk of Westminster loosening its grasp on ultimate power. That just isnt going to happen. While there is undoubtedly a need to improve local democracy, why the hell would we believe that this is the intention. Everything that British Labour in Scotland does and has done since 2007 has been driven by their bitter resentment of the SNP and the imperative to undermine the Scottish Government at every contrived opportunity. How credulous would one have to be to imagine that this empowering of local authorities was intended for any other purpose? We can and must devolve power to the level at which it is appropriately exercised. But this must be done for reasons of improving democracy. It absolutely must not be done for reasons of serving partisan interests. This next stage of devolution must be carried out under the auspices of the parliament of an independent Scotland. It cannot be entrusted to Westminster. What Brown offers is not a vision for Scotland but a depressing glimpse of the self-serving vacuousness within British Labours Scottish branch. Considerations of what best serves the people of Scotland form no part of Browns thinking. His sole concern is to prop up the structures of power and privilege which define the British state. An arrangement which he personally benefits from very significantly.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 01:03:33 +0000
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