The West
Lothian Question is a mirage. It assumes that the defining division
between Scotland, Wales and England is nationality. In so far as the
issue at hand, in relation to the devolution of powers that is not
the case.
Its true
that devolution, as it exists is based upon a devolution of powers to
Scotland and Wales, and both of these are nations. But, powers are
also devolved to Northern Ireland, which is not a nation, as well as
to London, which is not a nation. The basis of the devolution, here
is not some form of national autonomy, but merely the establishment
of administrative arrangements on a regional basis. Even the
Scottish referendum demonstrated that point. Those entitled to vote
in the referendum were those who currently lived in Scotland. In
terms of nationality, many of those would not conform to any notion
of “Scottishness”, but reflect the fact that Scotland, like the
rest of the United Kingdom, is composed of people from a variety of
ethnicities, cultures, and nationalities. Similarly, many people who
do conform to some notion of "Scottishness", whose culture, language
and so on, derives from their roots in Scotland, did not get to vote,
because they do not live in Scotland.
In that
case, the West Lothian question disappears. It is not a matter of
why should Scottish MP's get to vote on all issues, discussed in a
United Kingdom Parliament, whilst English MP's do not get to vote on
issues, discussed in a Scottish Parliament, but that all MP's get to
vote, in a United Kingdom Parliament, whilst some powers are also
devolved to a range of regional governments. The only question then
becomes what powers should be devolved, and to which regional
governments should they be devolved.
As we
already have powers devolved to London, and we also already have a
range of economic powers devolved to unelected Local Enterprise
Partnerships, the question then seems to become a trivial one of only
deciding on these administrative arrangements. What is clear is that
this situation does not require as Cameron, UKIP and others have
suggested, that there must be an English Parliament, in which only
English MP's get to vote.
As a
Marxist, I believe that it is, in any case, a mistake to fragment the
unity of the state, by measures of devolution, where such a unified
and centralised state has existed for centuries. If Cameron and UKIP
insist on trying to play politics with the issue, by tying the
promised additional powers for Scotland to the idea of an English
Parliament, they must be opposed, but we should take the opportunity
of demanding a completion of the British bourgeois revolution started
nearly four hundred years ago, as I have suggested previously.
Finally, the
issue of Scottish independence has now also become inextricably
linked to the question of UK independence from the EU. The real
solution to many of these problems, and the same is true for the
situation in Ukraine, is the establishment of a United States of
Europe, including Russia. On that basis, of a centralised European
State, even one at first established on a federal basis, these
administrative divisions could be settled within the context of this
single state, and could be done so on the basis of a united
working-class struggle for consistent democracy within it.
The
potential for the United Kingdom to have been broken apart, and the
fact that sections of the Left, as has happened in the past, allowed
themselves to be drawn along by the reactionary bandwagon of
nationalism, shows the danger when the Tories seek to mobilise
populist support for an anti EU referendum. Its shows the need for
real Marxists and internationalists to take this issue seriously now,
and to begin the struggle to move forward to a United State of
Europe, and not be dragged backwards by Little Englanderism.
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