Monday, May 15, 2006
English unhappy with Scottish PMs
This is a bit of unwelcome news for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and I would imagine for most pro-Union folks across Britain.A BBC poll has reportedly found that most voters in England believe Scottish MPs should be barred from becoming Prime Minister - but only one in five agree north of the border.
Scottish Nationalists claimed that the findings of the ICM survey, conducted for BBC1's The Politics Show, were "bad news" for both Tony Blair and his widely-tipped successor and Fife-based MP Gordon Brown.
Across the UK, 52% of respondents said it was wrong for an MP from Scotland to become PM now that Scotland has its own Parliament.
The figure was 55% for England and 59% in the south east but just 20% in Scotland, according to the Sunday Mail newspaper. SNP leader Alex Salmond said:
"This poll is bad news for Labour.
"It means the current Prime Minister is deeply unpopular in Scotland while the future Prime Minister is unacceptable in England.
"It shows Gordon Brown's new-found Britishness cuts no ice north or south of the border."
But a Labour spokesman countered:
"The people of Britain will pick the next Prime Minister based on his ability to deliver a strong and stable economy and a secure future."
The poll findings follow claims by former Labour minister Frank Field that new Home Secretary John Reid - also a Scottish MP - will challenge the Chancellor for the keys to Number 10 when Mr Blair steps down.
Uh-oh! It seems that not all is well in Britain!
As Mr Salmond alluded to above, the poll's findings make bleak reading for Mr Brown who back in January urged people to "embrace the Union flag".
'Those silly English eh?'
I think this reflects a growing desire within England for greater power for the English and less power for the Scottish. It's a pretty ridiculous state of affairs when Scottish ministers are allowed to voice their opinions on matters pertaining to England when the Scots have their own parliament and the English do not.
I think we are going to see more and more calls in the next few years for an English parliament to cater to English affairs.
The question is though, what will this do to the United Kingdom itself? Will it stengthen it or will it perhaps lead to its eventual demise?
# posted by United Irelander @ 1:06 AM 
© 2008 United Irelander.
