Parliament Overrides Holyrood HOORAY!
The papers are full today about the vote in Holyrood yesterday where the Labour Party (and Lib Dems) sided with the SNP/Greens to try to "block" the Brexit Bill.
The "frame" through which the Nats and their commentators want us to view this is that "the devolution settlement" (a completely inaccurate and bogus phrase) is being "attacked" and that the whole concept of "devolution" is at risk.
Complete baloney!
This is the SNP frame, and any commentator pushing it must be regarded as an overt or closet SNP supporter, or at the very best, a constitutional illiterate.
The Great news is that this incident demonstrates that devolution is working exactly as it is meant!
What's this all About?
Briefly, there are powers coming back to the UK as a result of Brexit. Some of these will be devolved automatically to Holyrood because they are part of wider powers which Holyrood already exercises.
Some of them have to stay with the British Parliament because they relate to powers which help to ensure a common trading market throughout the UK where goods can flow freely without being subject to different regulations.
No problem. No big deal. All normal people agree that is completely reasonable.
But of course the SNP object. They are making a thing about it. They call it a "power grab". Trying to pretend that the British Parliament is doing something that it shouldn't.
They seek to muddy the waters.
So allow us to ensure the waters run crystal clear!
SNP/Greens are Total Hypocrites
First, let's get this out the way.
The SNP/Greens are the biggest hypocrites (along with Labour and the Lib Dems coming in a close second) because all these parties wanted to stay in the EU in the first place.
They wanted all these disputed powers to stay with the EU in the first place!
They told us so! They campaigned so! They got angry that it didn't happen so!
For them now to be "angry" that not every single one of these powers is coming to Holyrood is the height of vile hypocrisy.
And let's be fair, the Scottish Tories also wanted all these powers to Remain with the EU too!
But at least we can note that they've accepted the British-wide Leave vote, and they're now trying to put that into operation.
So, one and a half cheers for them!
Anyway, here is how devolution is meant to work...
What is Devolution?
Devolution, as we have long explained, is British State Power exercised by Subsidiary Bodies.
Our graphic, above, produced years ago, explains it well!
Make no mistake. This is the correct interpretation. Powers flow down from the British Parliament which represents every single person in our United Kingdom.
This is what devolution is meant to be about.
Subsidiary bodies exercise certain powers but must defer to the wider and greater British centre when necessary.
Unfortunately, it seems that most of our MPs have never understood what they are/were even doing. They don't even understand the truth of that previous paragraph!
This was made worse after the catastrophic announcement in the Scotland Act 2012 that the Scottish Executive was henceforth going to be called a "Scottish Government".
That really fouled the pond.
It made people think that somehow the Scottish "Government" (formally properly described as an Executive) was someone on a par with the British Government (which represents us all in the UK).
It was a trick introduced by conniving Federalists on "the Calman Commission" who helped to write this farce into law, and thereby deliberately changed political perceptions.
They moved things (in perception, although not in real political function) away from the actual fact of a central British Parliament and Government with subservient arms, to the notion of the United Kingdom as already some kind of Federal State with different "governments" all equal and competing with each other for maximum gain, as if it was their right!
(Anyone who thinks that is the actual state of the British Constitution is a constitutional illiterate; or is an overt or closet ScotNat! There is no question about that.)
This was a disastrous political shift in perception – and one which we struggle with today, and which the SNP/Greens are exploiting to maximum benefit; with the hapless (and constitutionally illiterate) Labour and Lib Dems seeking petty advantage on their coat tails.
British Parliament Overrules Holyrood
What to make about the idea that the British Parliament can over-ride the will of Holyrood?
Only one word to say about that: "Hooray!"
The British Parliament is the font of the powers in the first place.
It is from the British Parliament that the legal powers flow. Finally, it has emphasised that fact.
This is how devolution is meant to work!
The only people who don't like that fact are people who don't understand what devolution is meant to be about! Or Scottish Nationalists who want independence anyway.
If you like the fact that we stand for constitutional literacy and for our United Kingdom then here are 3 things you can do:
