Last week, I attended the Edinburgh Book Festival, where I
took part in a “dialogue” about what the upcoming referendum on Scottish
independence could mean for the remainder of the United
Kingdom .
The event took place in the Guardian Spiegeltent and
also featured prominent Scottish economist Jo Armstrong. It was chaired by
David Runciman, a Professor in Politics at Cambridge University .
And it was lovely to see so many people at the event.
During my short visit, I was impressed at the really engaged
politics in Scotland ,
with people from all walks of life actively debating the future governance of
their country as well as a whole myriad of related issues.
And in recent days, Cornwall
has also featured in a number of new items. These include a feature on the BBC website
under the heading of “Scottish independence: Is Cornwall more like Scotland
than England ?”
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28766002
- and a short TV piece on the BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28824991.
For the record, I am really disappointed in the comments of
Sarah Newton MP in the latter piece. She stated that: “I am a passionate
believer in the Union . I think we are much stronger
together. Cornwall has got a really
important place to play as part of England ,
as part of the United Kingdom .
I really think it would be a backward step to break up the United
Kingdom .”
I cannot believe that she is not fully aware that MK is
campaigning for the devolution of powers to a Cornish Assembly within the UK .
So why does she need to scaremonger that such devolution would
lead to the break up of the United Kingdom? Especially when David Cameron and other Tories
are promising more powers to the Scottish Parliament which they maintain will
strengthen the United Kingdom.
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