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azzuri
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Gordon Brown on the Politics show........see - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/4765486.stm
The Politics Show, Sunday 5 Mar 06 -
Jon Sopel interviews Gordon Brown:
.....this is just a part of the article above which relates to the West Lothian/English question.
| Quote: | Jon Sopel: Is there a constitutional issue in having a Scottish Prime Minister?
Gordon Brown: Err, Tony Blair is, err....born as a Scot...
Jon Sopel interrupts: but he represents an English constituency...
Gordon Brown: Ming Campbell has just become leader of the Liberal Party.
Jon Sopel: No, no...But the key point there is that Tony Blair represents an English constituency so that most of the legislation that gets passed at Westminster affects his constituents. When you become Prime Minister most of the legislation concerning schools, concerning the health service, will not affect your constituents in Kircaldy.
Gordon Brown: But, but, we are a union, err, err, I don't think there can be any constitutional, or other, barrier on any person from the United Kingdom becoming the prime minister of the United Kingdom, whether it affects me or anybody else. Because we are part of a union, devolution is within the union of the United Kingdom, and the idea you have second class citizens in one area of the United Kingdom as against another would be unacceptable to most people who think about the future of the United Kingdom.
Jon Sopel: I have to say that at the Politics show the one subject that we get more letters on than any other, admittedly from English viewers, is the whole question of this democratic deficit. That you get legislation being passed, could be passed in the future by you as prime minister, which will just not affect your constituents. You couldn't imagine a situation where an MP from Surrey is running the Scottish Parliament.
Gordon Brown: But look. It's always been true that you have a union of different countries. You have Scotland, England, and you've now Northern Ireland, and of course err, and of course, err, Wales. And we are all part of one union. At the end of the day we are all part of the same union. Now if you create different rights at Westminster for different MPs I think you are actually putting the Union at risk. And I'm proud to be both Labour and a unionist party, and I think those who put the union at risk and say they are unionists are making a grave mistake.
Jon Sopel: So there is no constitutional issue whatsoever in this?
Gordon Brown: I don't think there is a constitutional issue at all in this because we are citizens of the United Kingdom. |
You can also watch the full show by Clicking Here and then clicking the 'Video' button on the top right hand corner of the page
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Aventinian
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Wetter than an octopus in a bathtub...
The democratic deficit cannot continue. There should be an English Assembly, probably involving the present MPs that represent English constituencies. That's what should've happened with devolution in the other parts of the UK along with some form of PR.
Essentially I agree with Gordon Brown - no second class citizens, but then again I am not as lazy as him and believe that there needs to be devolution in England.
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azzuri
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It's not about his laziness - it's his self-interest.
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