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Britain prepares for political upheaval after Scotland vote




Britain prepares for political upheaval after Scotland vote

20/9/2014

LONDON: The saga of Scottish independence is over, but a new journey of political upheaval is only beginning for the United Kingdom.

Prime Minister David Cameron responded Friday to the passion of the failed Scottish breakaway by promising sweeping new powers to the U.K.’s regions.

Scotland’s rebellious spirit and England’s own movement for more autonomy mean that to keep an uneasy marriage intact, each of Britain’s four nations soon may need to live mostly under separate roofs.

Cameron vowed to follow through on promises to spin off key decision-making powers from London to Edinburgh, particularly over tax rates and welfare benefits, to keep separatist sentiments at bay.

He also called for a similarly robust reform of the relationship between Parliament in London and Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and most significantly its home of England, where 85 percent of the U.K.’s population lives.

“I have long believed that a crucial part missing from this national discussion is England. We have heard the voice of Scotland, and now the millions of voices of England must also be heard. The question of English votes for English laws ... requires a decisive answer,” Cameron said outside No. 10 Downing Street.

Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond, who spearheaded the drive for independence, announced he was stepping down.

“Obviously I wouldn’t have made the decision if there had been a ‘Yes’ vote,” he told a news conference in Edinburgh.

He will step down as leader of the Scottish National Party in November and as first minister around the same time, but will keep his seat in the Scottish Parliament.

The push to reshape the U.K.’s political map comes ahead of a key test of opinion that could end in Britain’s exit from the EU in a promised 2017 referendum.

U.K. voters must decide by May 2015 whether Cameron and his Euro-skeptic, England-centric Conservative Party remain in power or give way to the center-left Labor Party, the perennial preference of Scottish and Welsh voters.

All the while, nationalist forces in Northern Ireland, Wales and even England are feeling empowered by Thursday’s strong 45 percent support for Scottish independence. The pro-independence vote fell short of pollsters’ predictions but still means that more than 1.6 million Scots opted to leave Great Britain.

Cameron appointed one of Scotland’s business grandees, Lord Smith of Kelvin, to lead a Scotland Devolution Commission to report recommendations by November on what responsibilities and powers should be transferred to Scotland.

He said similar diplomatic initiatives would begin with the regional governments in Northern Ireland and Wales, but offered no specifics.

Cameron’s initiatives face challenges on several fronts.

Right-wingers in his own party oppose the promises he has just given to Scotland, and instead want to focus on freezing Scottish MPs out of voting on parliamentary bills that apply only for England and Wales, a long-standing grievance and oddity of the U.K.’s multi-layered political system.

Meanwhile, the Labor leader of its regional government in Cardiff said the Welsh wanted whatever the Scots were getting, too.

“The old union is dead. We need to forge a new union,” said Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones, who argued for more funds from the central government. “It’s perfectly reasonable that we might expect a fair share of the pot.” Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative lawmaker, said he expected England to create its own fully devolved political structures – the U.K. would still have an overarching prime minister but England would join Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in having a first minister overseeing internal affairs.

Thursday’s vote also offers tantalizing promise for Sinn Fein, which wants a referendum on Northern Ireland’s future.

“It is time for the people who share this island to have a respectful and informed debate with regard to Irish unity or continued partition,” Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams told reporters in Dublin. “The people here, like our Scottish cousins, should be provided the opportunity in a border poll to determine the constitutional position. That is the democratic way forward.”

The future of the U.K. appears destined to face many internal tugs-of-war: between parties and capitals, and between voters’ souls and sensibilities.

That conflict perhaps was best illustrated on the ballot papers of 691 of the more than 3.6 million Scots who cast their ballots.

Asked whether Scotland should be an independent country, those voters checked both “yes” and “no.”


 














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