Giving Holyrood more powers

by Chris | 25 Nov 2009 | 4 Comments

scottish-parliamentThe Scottish Parliament should not be given any further powers as it currently stands. There is already a massive disparity between Scotland and the rest of the UK, both in the amount of UK money spent on it and through the democratic deficit.

Holyrood should not get any furthers powers until the Welsh Assembly has been given some more and England has a parliament of its own. The democratic deficit is still massive, the West Lothian Question is as poignant as ever.

If Holyrood are given any more powers, it should come at the cost of every single penny Scotland gets through the Barnett Forumla (which Brown did say would be reviewed back in March 2008, but has anything come out of it? No. Just like I said) being denied to them going foward. Then the people of Scotland could see whether the SNP can actually govern or just have big egos.

But if nothing is to change other than the Scottish Parliament getting new powers, it is entirely wrong.

Categories: Democracy, Devolution, Scotland

4 Comments »

  • James Cowley said:

    Your just bitter everyone hates the Tories north of the border, and they haven’t fallen for the lies that Coulson spins in the English Press everyday.

    I bet the The Scotish Sun, wont be backign the Tories for sure.

    On a more prudent note the Barnett Formula needs a review.

    # 25 November 2009 at 10:29 am
  • Chris said:

    “Bitter”? Not in the slightest.

    You’re quite possibly the most tribal politician I have ever come across – not a single comment you ever make is anything but!

    And the only lies that pervade the press are pretty much everything that comes out of any Labour minister’s mouth. ;)

    # 25 November 2009 at 8:20 pm
  • Mr West, Mr West said:

    I’m not quite sure why you think the retention of control over air-guns and the drink-drive limits is so important and I’m sure the nats would roll out an oil-based argument to counter your economic contentions…. Oh and what about the democratic deficit that will emerge when the Conservatives win the General Election without getting a majority in Scotland?

    Mr W.

    # 30 November 2009 at 12:44 am
  • Chris (author) said:

    It’s the principle that matters.

    And yes, that is a slight concern – but minimal, since any Conservative government in Westminster would be making UK decisions, not Scottish decisions.

    Scotland already has a significant amount of control over their own health and education systems, so any UK-wide decisions are of far less import.

    The democratic deficit occurs when Scottish (or Welsh or NI) MPs are able to swing the vote on issues that do not affect Scotland (or Wales or NI). If it is a UK-wide issue, they have the democratic right to influence it – but when it is cannot affect their area because an independent parliament has that responsibility, how can it be right?

    # 30 November 2009 at 1:02 am

Comments

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site. You can also subscribe to these comments via RSS.

Be nice. Keep it clean. Stay on topic. No spam.