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The shock by-election victory which resulted in devolution

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Published Date: 03 November 2008
Jim Sillars's win 20 years ago set the agenda for a major watershed in Scottish politics, writes DAVID TORRANCE
THE American political humorist PJ O'Rourke once wrote that he did not understand the British tradition of holding by-elections. Why, he wondered, didn't we just let them go by? In some countries they do – Germany for example – but in the UK, these s...



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  • Last Updated: 02 November 2008 8:03 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Dr. James Wilkie,

Vienna 03/11/2008 03:53:24
There is a good deal more than that to the story of how devolution came about, and the full account will not be written for many years. The Scottish Constitutional Convention performed a useful function in preparing a lot of the practical details, but in the end the legislation that finally re-established the Scottish Parliament was a result of a scrutiny of the UK's local and regional (Scotland and Wales) democratic system by the Council of Europe, the senior European organisation, now with 47 member states.

The CoE (nothing to do with the EU) concluded that the UK's democratic system was seriously defective in a number of respects, and extended its monitoring to Wales and London as well as various other constitutional issues that required attention. The Scottish convention had no responsibility for those other issues that were part of the final package of constitutional reform, which was most reluctantly carried through by Tony Blair's administration under the polite diplomatic threat that failure to do so would be "inconsistent with membership of the Council of Europe".

The Labour Party has pulled out all the stops in its attempt to keep this secret, and to claim the credit for the devolution project, but the first concrete evidence is now emerging with the release of some of the relevant documents by the Council of Europe. The full story will not be told until the records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Cabinet Office become available, but for the meantime the only authentic public account of what happened, albeit provisional, can be read at http://www.realmofscotland.com/papers

2

Hugo of Garven,

03/11/2008 07:02:38
I tried http://www.realmofscotland.com/papers and it cannot be found.
3

Dr. James Wilkie,

Vienna 03/11/2008 08:09:15
It worked with me before I gave the link, but it doesn't work now. All right, just type www.realmofscotland.com and then click on Scotland-UN Papers.
4

The Federalist (the poster formerly know as NAUON),

03/11/2008 11:46:55
James - still peddling this myth I see.
5

Dr. James Wilkie,

Vienna 03/11/2008 17:01:16
The desperation of the unionist establishment is nowhere more clearly in evidence than in the manipulation of fact by the hatchet man (or woman) sm753 and his or her backup team. They are pulling out all the stops to try to play down the fact that the UK government was forced by international pressure to devolve power to Scotland and Wales as well as implementing other constitutional changes. This shows very clearly where the unionist shoe hurts. They are in permanent denial of the fact that they were simply outmanoeuvered, outgunned and outsmarted, and they don't like it.

""Dr Wilkie" is still unable to accept that the only fruit his labours was to be told, after a polite hearing, to "go away" by the Council of Europe."

That is a plain lie, a pure invention by sm753 and his/her backing team. When I raised the question of instituting a system to monitor the democratic systems of CoE member states, at a meeting well before the Scotland-UN memorandum was submitted, the Deputy Secretary General noted down all that I said, and I was certainly not told to "go away". The proposal was in fact fully implemented, with the result that we know, and monitoring is going on to this day.

As for the Stone of Destiny, I am aware of the FO document mentioned. Fact is that the United Nations special committee expressed themselves as wholly sympathetic to Scotland's case, but with a remit to negotiate between sovereign states they could not intervene in a UK internal matter. We knew that from the beginning, but went ahead anyway with the action, which caused heated correspondence for weeks on end in the Glasgow Herald. The story can be read in a Related Document with a link at the foot of the Strasbourg Memorandum document at http://www.realmofscotland.com/paper

6

Dr. James Wilkie,

Vienna 03/11/2008 17:02:55
As regards the Council of Europe documents that have been released to date, sm753 and his/her backers are well aware that the Council refers repeatedly to the UK’s democratic defects in both local AND REGIONAL government (Scotland and Wales being constitutionally “regions” of the UK, as indeed is England). I have pointed that out on several occasions, despite which sm753 just ignores it because it is inconvenient. The assertion that the European Charter on Local Self-Government does not apply to Scotland and Wales is a pure invention by sm753. It is in any case irrelevant in the present context, because it was not the basis for the Council of Europe’s action against the UK. That action, with the implied threat of expulsion from the Council, would have been taken anyway on the basis of the UK’s breach of some of the most fundamental canons of democratic government.

There would seem to be little point in attempting to carry on a discussion with people like the sm753 group, who will twist any facts and reasoning to suit their destructive agenda of wrecking the Scottish national movement at all costs. I recommend that other readers should consult the website and make up their own minds on the basis of the preliminary evidence that is now starting to become available: http://www.realmofscotland.com/paper

7

Dr. James Wilkie,

Vienna 04/11/2008 21:44:59
No, I don't claim that the real evidence is "too secret". It is the UK government that is indulging in the secrecy, and all the hair-splitting, twisting of facts and Sir Humphrey-style deviousness by the sm753 organisation will not conceal the truth for ever. it is quite obvious where the unionist shoe hurts as regards the Strasbourg action, otherwise the sm753 group would not have been set up for the express purpose of countering what is regarded as a serious threat. The Labour leadership in particular would be well advised to keep their heads down over the issue, considering that their underhand attempt to counter the Strasbourg action in 1993 resulted in an unprecedented diplomatic disaster that has still to be publicised. Ask Alistair Campbell. Go home sm753; you are just making a nuisance of yourselves, and the truth is going to come out despite all your efforts to suppress it.

 

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