Daz_Hockey said:
Daz, Finder is Canadian. You can call me Yank, Gringo, makes no difference to me.
Most English reject a Scottish PM
- Thread starter Blackleaf
- Start date
Daz, Finder is Canadian. You can call me Yank, Gringo, makes no difference to me.
RE: Most English reject a
lol yeah opps....gringo?...of spanish origins eh me old son?
but I'd have thought being a canadian and being called a "yank" would be ever more offensive to him lol
lol yeah opps....gringo?...of spanish origins eh me old son?
but I'd have thought being a canadian and being called a "yank" would be ever more offensive to him lol
Anti-Scottish bias could crush the ambitions of both Brown and Reid
By James Cusick, Westminster Editor
WITH Gordon Brown and John Reid tipped to be the main contenders to fight for the post-Blair crown, Labour could face an uphill struggle when it comes to the next general election, a new poll has revealed.
Both men are Scots with Scottish constituencies and, according to a BBC survey published today, being an MP north of the Border could damage their chances of remaining Prime Minister .
According to the ICM poll for the BBC’s Politics Show, broadcast today, 52% of people asked said they thought it “wrong” that in the era of the Scottish parliament a Scot should become Prime Minister of the whole of the United Kingdom, 45% said they did not mind and 3% said they did not know.
The Scots, of course, did not mind at all, with 75% of those polled believing it right that a Scottish MP should be elected to Britain’s top political job.
But what will most worry the Labour Party – and be music to the ears of the Tories – were the poll results from the southeast and north of England AS WELL AS WALES An estimated 59% of southeast England voters thought it wrong that a Scottish MP should be PM. The equivalent figures for the north of England and Wales were 54% and 55% respectively.
Brown and his advisers have long known the inherent prejudice that the BBC poll reveals. The Chancellor’s recent speeches on the importance of “Britishness” are said to have been designed to mask his own Scottishness in a Britain where devolved powers mean that the Prime Minister – if he is a Scottish MP – will be trying to form policies at Westminster that will not necessarily apply to Scotland.
The role of the PM is not the only one that holds potential constitutional conflict. The health and education secretaries, along with transport, the environment and agriculture all are ministries where power at Westminster is devolved or paralleled in the Scottish parliament and whose jobs are therefore “geographically” limited by the devolution settlement.
The BBC poll also corresponds to research by the Sunday Herald which points to the post of PM increasingly becoming more difficult for Scots.
Tam Dalyell, the politician who first posed the West Lothian Question, said: “Until recently I would have said Gordon Brown was such a substantial political figure he could over-ride this prejudice. But English colleagues at Westminster had to swallow the introduction of foundation hospitals, which John Reid (a Scot) as health secretary, helped push through, and this stuck in their gullet. This was followed by the issue of student fees.”
The residual resentment at Westminster now appears to be reflected in a similar resentment by the electorate.
One English MP said: “We have pretended this doesn’t exist and will not be an issue at the next general election. But this poll shows it does exist and it is an issue which is obviously concerning the Labour Party more than it does the Tories.
“David Cameron [the Conservative leader] may have a Scottish name and Scottish ancestry, but he is an English MP. He clearly starts with an advantage that neither Gordon Brown nor John Reid enjoys.”
http://www.sundayherald.com/55686
So, MORE people in Wales are AGAINST having a Scottish MP than people in the north of England.
So even other Celtic nations are starting to be suspicious of all this Scottish imperialism.
By James Cusick, Westminster Editor
WITH Gordon Brown and John Reid tipped to be the main contenders to fight for the post-Blair crown, Labour could face an uphill struggle when it comes to the next general election, a new poll has revealed.
Both men are Scots with Scottish constituencies and, according to a BBC survey published today, being an MP north of the Border could damage their chances of remaining Prime Minister .
According to the ICM poll for the BBC’s Politics Show, broadcast today, 52% of people asked said they thought it “wrong” that in the era of the Scottish parliament a Scot should become Prime Minister of the whole of the United Kingdom, 45% said they did not mind and 3% said they did not know.
The Scots, of course, did not mind at all, with 75% of those polled believing it right that a Scottish MP should be elected to Britain’s top political job.
But what will most worry the Labour Party – and be music to the ears of the Tories – were the poll results from the southeast and north of England AS WELL AS WALES An estimated 59% of southeast England voters thought it wrong that a Scottish MP should be PM. The equivalent figures for the north of England and Wales were 54% and 55% respectively.
Brown and his advisers have long known the inherent prejudice that the BBC poll reveals. The Chancellor’s recent speeches on the importance of “Britishness” are said to have been designed to mask his own Scottishness in a Britain where devolved powers mean that the Prime Minister – if he is a Scottish MP – will be trying to form policies at Westminster that will not necessarily apply to Scotland.
The role of the PM is not the only one that holds potential constitutional conflict. The health and education secretaries, along with transport, the environment and agriculture all are ministries where power at Westminster is devolved or paralleled in the Scottish parliament and whose jobs are therefore “geographically” limited by the devolution settlement.
The BBC poll also corresponds to research by the Sunday Herald which points to the post of PM increasingly becoming more difficult for Scots.
Tam Dalyell, the politician who first posed the West Lothian Question, said: “Until recently I would have said Gordon Brown was such a substantial political figure he could over-ride this prejudice. But English colleagues at Westminster had to swallow the introduction of foundation hospitals, which John Reid (a Scot) as health secretary, helped push through, and this stuck in their gullet. This was followed by the issue of student fees.”
The residual resentment at Westminster now appears to be reflected in a similar resentment by the electorate.
One English MP said: “We have pretended this doesn’t exist and will not be an issue at the next general election. But this poll shows it does exist and it is an issue which is obviously concerning the Labour Party more than it does the Tories.
“David Cameron [the Conservative leader] may have a Scottish name and Scottish ancestry, but he is an English MP. He clearly starts with an advantage that neither Gordon Brown nor John Reid enjoys.”
http://www.sundayherald.com/55686
So, MORE people in Wales are AGAINST having a Scottish MP than people in the north of England.
So even other Celtic nations are starting to be suspicious of all this Scottish imperialism.
This Scottish imperialism you speak of seems to be confined within the UK's borders. Nobody is going to care Blackleaf outside the UK. It's analogous to New York imperial tendencies towards New Jersey. :roll:
SCOTTISH IMPERIALISM
SCOTS OUTNUMBER THE ENGLISH IN THE BRITISH CABINET FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY
The Sun
From "The Whip" column.
16th May 2006.
Many Scots regard them as the "auld enemy." But how many will notice another great victory over the English when Tony Blair's battered new Cabinet meets on Thursday? For the first time in history, Sassenach born-and-bred members will be OUTNUMBERED - by 12 to 11.
Scots hold three of the top jobs - Prime Minister (Blair), Home Secretary (Reid) and Chancellor (Brown) - while the most senior non-job, Deputy Prime Minister, is occupied by a Welsh-born John Prescott. Altogether, Scots fill almost a THIRD of the posts, even though they make up well under a TENTH of UK voters.
Miffed Tories are riding to the rescue of the downtrodden majority because some Scottish ministers decide issues in Health, Transport and the Home Office that do not even apply in their country - where their own parliament does the dirty work.
Former Tory Home Secretary Ken Baker has just pushed a Bill through the Lords barring Scots and Welsh MPs voting on English-only matters.
He tells The Whip: "It's ridiculous that John Reid decides how the police run Lancashire - but not Lanarkshire. David Cameron has to make this his first law as Prime Minister."
It's not only fair, it will really clobber the Scot-dominated Labour party.
thesun.co.uk
SCOTS OUTNUMBER THE ENGLISH IN THE BRITISH CABINET FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY
The Sun
From "The Whip" column.
16th May 2006.
Many Scots regard them as the "auld enemy." But how many will notice another great victory over the English when Tony Blair's battered new Cabinet meets on Thursday? For the first time in history, Sassenach born-and-bred members will be OUTNUMBERED - by 12 to 11.
Scots hold three of the top jobs - Prime Minister (Blair), Home Secretary (Reid) and Chancellor (Brown) - while the most senior non-job, Deputy Prime Minister, is occupied by a Welsh-born John Prescott. Altogether, Scots fill almost a THIRD of the posts, even though they make up well under a TENTH of UK voters.
Miffed Tories are riding to the rescue of the downtrodden majority because some Scottish ministers decide issues in Health, Transport and the Home Office that do not even apply in their country - where their own parliament does the dirty work.
Former Tory Home Secretary Ken Baker has just pushed a Bill through the Lords barring Scots and Welsh MPs voting on English-only matters.
He tells The Whip: "It's ridiculous that John Reid decides how the police run Lancashire - but not Lanarkshire. David Cameron has to make this his first law as Prime Minister."
It's not only fair, it will really clobber the Scot-dominated Labour party.
thesun.co.uk