The Scottish Question
The Economist turns its focus this week to something I find quite interesting: the peculiar role of Scotland in the UK. Scotland has its own parliament, yet it doesn’t raise any taxes. Perhaps surprisingly, many of the top British politicians are Scottish: Ming Campbell, head of the Liberal Democrats, is Scottish, as is his predecessor Charles Kennedy. In the Labour leadership Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and Home Secretary John Reid. Even Tony Blair, though not Scottish, was born in Edinburgh. As the Economist notes:
They are also noticing some other anomalies arising from Scotland’s home rule. One is that Scottish members of the Westminster Parliament can vote on matters that concern everyone in the United Kingdom, but that English, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs cannot vote on matters devolved to Scotland. Another is that the man now running the Home Office at Westminster is John Reid, who answers only to the voters of his Scottish constituency, though his department deals not with Scotland’s internal affairs, a devolved matter, but those of England and Wales.