Is this a slippery slope the Scottish Mr Blair and Mr Brown have set the UK on. Devolution; a parliament and government for Scotland within the UK. Now a new report is offering further devolution and powers for the Scottish Governement including limited tax raising powers. It seems fairly obvious that this process will continue until all powers north of the border are owned by the Scottish Government.
The Welsh also have a proportion looking for independence and the first step is changing their assembly into a parliament. Although I don’t think there is as strong a feeling about devolution with as many people in Wales.
Personally I’m not wholly against devolution except that once fully in place the break up of the UK, Great Britain, will only be a very small step. Possibly for some minor event that might normally pass, and destruction is always easier than repair.
On the one side there appear to be no threats from abroad at least militarily. The decline in power for the UK over the last 50 years perhaps makes a union seem less advantageous. More local power will give better manoeuvrability and more accountability to local needs, particularly not having to consider more distant factors. Some people think the English are paying taxes for the Scots in particular and the Welsh. Of this I can’t say and even if so I’m not particularly concerned as I doubt it’s significant, except RBS and HBOS.
On the other side there is the sentiment of a common past and country and what it stands for, common security around the island, a larger pot economically, more scope in a larger state and the ability to play a bigger British card internationally. These probably stand for which-ever country you come from and Northern Ireland caps off the northern approaches in security.
Many people have very strong feelings about the subject seemingly hard wired in. Overall I feel no reason or desire for change and can empathise more with the pro-union case than I can feel potential gain from the anti-union case. That makes me pro-UK.