'An English parliament would be a good step'
Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thomson 01/12/2007The door to Bute House opens silently, like the door to Number Ten. There are £8 million portraits on the walls, a gleaming Cabinet table, and ministerial cars purring outside. Alex Salmond, like his fellow Scot in London, has only recently moved into his new Edinburgh home, but unlike Gordon Brown he's still having a ball. "I'm loving it," he says. "Come and look round, I'm going to take some more Scottish paintings back from London for the walls. You can come to the castle afterwards. I've got the keys."
His enthusiasm is infectious. He has a row of political awards and even his enemies admit he has been canny in the six months since he became First Minister, ending Labour's 50-year domination of Scottish politics. "I don't know why I am still having a honeymoon but I do have a strong view of where I am going and that helps," says Mr Salmond.
Doesn't he feel a twinge of pity for his fellow Scot? "Gordon is a formidable politician but some of the things that are the best qualities in a chancellor turn out to be really bad qualities in a prime minister. All that micro-managing, the close-knit group of allies, these are not things that make you a great prime minister.
"I don't wish him ill but Gordon is a political opponent. Scotland is no longer a Labour fiefdom."
If Mr Salmond has his way, Scotland will no longer be anyone's fiefdom, but an independent country. The only problem is that he has to convince the Scots that this is what they want. "We have got a scheme, it's called independence, it's nice and clear but if people want another option on the referendum ballot paper, then I don't have an objection. But it has to be a defined option, such as fiscal autonomy. It can't just be, 'A little bit more of what we have got'."
If his fellow Scots don't back the idea, his masterplan appears to be to push the English into telling the Scots that they have had enough of them. "If people in England want to have a referendum on Englishness they can ask their representatives. I think it is a good thing to have a developing sense of Englishness," he says. "An English parliament would be a good step."
But the leader of the SNP laughs at the suggestion that he is infuriating the English on purpose, by floating the idea of free prescriptions, free university education and free school meals for the Scots at the expense of those south of the border.
"I would put it more positively. My objective is to build the confidence of the Scottish people so they will accept the normal responsibilities of being an independent country. The idea that I would propose to freeze the council tax in Scotland to irritate people in England is ridiculous. I don't get up in the morning wanting to annoy the English. I'm the biggest practising Anglophile in Scottish politics. I like the English."
So why does he find it so hard to share a flag and national identity with them? "The idea of national independence is about a country standing on its own two feet, governing its own affairs, having the self respect that self determination brings. It's not whether you like another country or not. I like Americans but I wouldn't suggest that we should be governed by America."
Mr Salmond wears tartan trousers, knows his Burns and consumes vast cooked breakfasts starting with porridge. But is the 52-year-old economist a true Scot, or a medley like most of his country? "I've got a bit of French in me, I suspect. Salmond is probably Huguenot originally."
| The French political
institutions of the Parlement in ancien régime
France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil
du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary
rights of consultation and deliberation. In the thirteenth century,
judicial functions were added. The parlementarians were of the opinion
that the parlement's role included active participation in the
legislative process, which brought them into increasing conflict with
evolving monarchic absolutism during the Ancien Régime, as the lit de
justice evolved during the sixteenth century from aconstiturional forum
to a royal weapon, used to force registration of edicts. A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modelled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French parlement, the action of parler (to speak): a parlement is a talk, a discussion, hence a meeting (an assembly, a court) where people discuss matters. The Parliament of England does not have an exact birth date. It is an institution that evolved out of the governmental structures that advised English monarchs in order for them to govern effectively. Under a monarchical system of government, monarchs need to seek consultation on the decisions they take, otherwise nobody will obey the monarchs, or their decisions. Those who hold any degree of power in the kingdom must see the monarch's laws as legitimate in order for them to be enforced. Therefore, monarchs form great councils consisting of all the subjects in their realm who hold some form of power, from whom they seek consultation and consent when taking major decisions - crucial when one considers that the English Parliament evolved at a time when the monarchy in England lacked a police force or standing army to enforce their laws. These great councils developed into the Parliament of England. Initially they only consisted of the monarch and the nobility, in the times when they were the only holders of any significant power and authority in the English kingdom. During the 12th century, knights of the shires began to be summoned when the monarch saw it as necessary. Then, in 1265, during the Second Barons' War in the reign of Henry III, burgesses from each borough were summoned to a Parliament called by Simon de Montfort. This marked the birth of the gentry class as a force in English politics and eventully led to the creation of the democratically elected House of Commons. Parliament evolved into the central governmental organ of the English state, gradually taking power away from the monarch and sowing the seeds of modern parliamentary democracy in the process. It is for this reason that the modern Parliament of the United Kingdom is sometimes referred to as the "Mother of all Parliaments". Following the Treaty of Union in 1707, Acts of Parliament passed in the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland created a new Kingdom of Great Britain and dissolved both parliaments, replacing them with a new Parliament of Great Britain based in the former home of the English parliament. The Parliament of Great Britain would later become the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1801 when the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was formed through the Act of Union 1800. The reestablishment of a devolved English parliament, giving separate decision-making powers to representatives for voters in England similar to the representation given by the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly, is an issue in British politics, due to the anomaly of Scottish MPs having a say in English issues, whereas English MPs are unable to vote on issues that affect Scotland exclusively. The question of a devolved English parliament was considered a minor issue until the Conservative Party announced policy proposals to ban Scottish MPs from voting on English issues, thus raising the profile of the issue. The only political party actively campaigning for an English Parliament are the English Democrats. Regarding parliamentary matters, a long-standing anomaly called the West Lothian Question has come to the fore. Before Scottish devolution, purely-Scottish matters were debated at Westminster, but subject to a convention that only Scottish MPs could vote on them. The "Question" was that there was no "reverse" convention: Scottish MPs could and did vote on issues relating only to England & Wales and Northern Ireland. Welsh devolution has removed most of the anomaly for Wales, but not for England: Scottish and Welsh MPs can vote on English issues, but many Scottish and Welsh issues are not debated at Westminster at all. English MPs are elected at the same time as the rest of the UK's MPs. There are 529 English constituencies. Because of their large number, they form an inbuilt majority in the House of Commons. As the British Government considered Scotland to be over-represented in relation to the other components of the UK, Clause 81 of the Scotland Act 1998 equalised the English and Scottish electoral quota, and London alone now provides more MPs than Scotland does. |
Would he support England or France at football? "It depends on the match. I would have preferred England to beat Croatia, I'm not passionate about it. I'm a Scottish supporter, but I'm not anti-England." He warms to his English theme. "There are lots of things I love about the English, the wealth of English literature, the sense of moderation, the inheritance of a democratic tradition - although qualified occasionally. The sadness is that Englishness has been lost. England has suffered a loss of identity far more than Scotland."
Don't the English and Scottish characteristics complement one another? "We can do well as equals. All I'm suggesting is that we recast the relationship. We'll still be United Kingdoms; there will still be a monarch and a social union. All that will happen is that there will be two parliaments and the two parliaments will be responsible for their own affairs. So you won't have those bossy Scots going down and reconfiguring English health and education without so much as a by your leave. Meanwhile, the Scots will be allowed to develop their own economy and their own resources and make their own way in the world."
It sounds like the perfect divorce, but dividing the assets could be impossible. Would Scotland retain the pound, for example? "My view is that we should join the euro and we should do it as quickly as possible.
"I don't mind sharing some facilities like a few of the embassies, we would divide the rest. All the assets and liabilities of the country, apart from those that are governed by territorial law, will be divided on a GDP share. That includes the national debt, as well as the art collections."
There are also the Armed Forces. Scotland is home to many of Britain's regiments, as well as the Trident submarines. "England can keep 100 per cent of the Trident missiles," Mr Salmond says. "We could have an infinite number of Scottish regiments in return for our share of the cost of Trident."
He disputes the claim that the Scots are ungrateful dependents. "If you take all of Scotland's resources, including our share of North Sea oil, we should be the third most prosperous country in the EU and the sixth most prosperous country in the world."
Scotland, he insists, actually has more going for it than England. "Some people would argue that Scots invented the modern world. To argue that a country that has made such a contribution to humankind could be incapable of governing itself is very insulting."
The First Minister thinks the concept of Britishness is out of date. "Sixty years ago if you had asked people, 'Are you British or Scottish?' more than 90 per cent would have said British. Now 90 per cent of people north of the border would say Scottish. We cannot just reinvent Britishness for Gordon Brown's convenience. You can't artificially recreate an identity to suit one individual who's slightly embarrassed because he's a Scottish MP. That's truly ridiculous."
In Mr Salmond's view, England and Scotland could only benefit from independence. "When Scotland becomes independent then England will lose its surly lodger and gain a good neighbour."
| Profile |
|
| Name: |
Alex Salmond |
| Born: | On Hogmanay in 1954 in Linlithgow.
His father was a
socialist civil servant, his mother a Tory. |
| Family: |
Married to Moira, a former civil servant who is 17 years his senior |
| Educated: | St Andrews University |
| Career: | Joined the SNP at university, elected an SNP MP in 1987, won the SNP leadership contest in 1990, returned to the helm of the SNP in 2004 after leaving the job in 1999 |
| Hobbies: | Horse racing, holidays on the island of Colonsay |
See also
The West Lothian Question
Scottish Parliament Building
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