Gordon Brown and the Constitutional Labyrinth

Just a few years ago the idea that Gordon Brown should not become Prime Minister of Britain would have not even been worth comment, no one except the most radical English Nationalist would have even questioned a Scotish or Welsh politicians’ right to become the first minister.

Unfortunately that is no longer the case; there are now very sound constitutional reasons why someone elected to a Scotish, or to a lesser degree Welsh constituency, is not a suitable candidate to hold this post.

Ironically, according to Mr Blair, this is the result of Gordon Brown’s own making, because Gordon Brown was the engine behind the devolution campaign which has created this constitutional impasse, “It’s Gordon’s passion, so we’re doing it” Tony Blair 1997.

Gordon’s “Passion” as it turns out was to create a separate Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly, this decentralisation of power was made with the intention of giving the people of Scotland and Wales more control over their own affairs within the United Kingdom. These two nations were revived to be given formal, constitutional and political recognition within the Union. England however was left out of it entirely. Unlike the Scots and the Welsh the distinct nationhood of the English people has received no political or constitutional recognition of any kind.

Scotland is now independent of the rest of the Union and has full self-government in most major areas of public policy: education, health, local government, social work, housing, training, agriculture, fisheries and forestry, sport and the arts, economic development including the administration of European Structural Funds, tourism, many aspects of transport, the legal system and law and order, most civil and criminal law, prisons and the fire services, and a variety of less significant matters.

Now Westminster MPs are excluded from any involvement in legislation for both countries in devolved areas of government; Westminster MPs for example can vote, can introduce legislation, on education and health in England; but have no say whatsoever in such matters in Scotland.

All well and good; that is what devolution is about, giving people a greater say in their government closer to home.

But that is also the problem, because the way it has turned out negates the most basic principle of parliamentary democracy; that MPs must be accountable to their electorate for how they vote. No MP representing a Scottish constituency can affect the policies of the people who vote them into office, however they can and do affect the policies of England where they have no representation and no accountability. It is power without responsibility, and power without accountability.

Prior to devolution 1998 ministries had responsibility for the United Kingdom as a whole. The Ministers were responsible for the whole of the UK, not just for a part of it. The 1998 legislation introduced a radical constitutional change. When Scotland, and in part Wales, got devolved powers, their UK counterparts such as Health found that their responsibilities were for England only. Yet they retained their places in the UK Cabinet. And the UK Prime Minister continued to appoint as the ministers who controlled and administered them MPs from UK constituencies whether or not they represented English constituencies.

MPs who do not represent English constituencies are being appointed to what are in effect English-only ministries. That means they are not accountable electorally to their electorate in their own constituency neither are they electorally accountable to a single voter in England for whom they are legislating.

This is a constitutional mayhem, it is unbalanced and unfair to the voters of England, who see laws passed in their parliament by Ministers and MPs they do not elect and who have no mandate to represent them.

So in short Mr Brown is not a suitable candidate to be Prime Minister for Britian because he cannot be held responsible for most of the polices that affect most of the people.

As this is a constitutional problem it should be addressed by the leading constitutional power in the land; unfortunately for the English that power at present resides in the person of the Lord Chancellor, who happens to be the unelected Lord Falconer, Scottish friend of Tony Blair and major campaigner for the Scottish parliament.