From: cockburn@majors.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn)
Subject: Re: Thoughts on Election Results/Scotland
Organization: Digital Equipment Co. Ltd., Newbury, England
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 15:29:38 GMT


Some more news on the Scottish dimension of the Tory win on Thursday:


From Ceefax, 11-Apr-92

The Labour Party's Scottish Executive is meeting in Glasgow to discuss its
strategy following the General election

It will consider how to keep devolution at the top of the political agenda.

They will also discuss the decision by a number of Labour MPs to launch a
new campaign for constitutional change, called Scotland United

Meanwhile the SNP has announced that it will fight next month's district
elections on a commitment to hold a multi-option referendum on independence,
devolution or the status quo.

Re my reference to the Claim of right 1988 in a previous note, here is
some notes I made on it in Jan 1990.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The basic starting point of the constitutional convention is the 'Claim
of Right'. This statement, agreed at the CC's initial meeting in Mar 89
is of tremendous political significance. It stems from the fact that
at no time in Scotlands history (even the laws relating to union with 
England in 1707) has the Scottish electorate ever given up it's own
sovereignty and as such, is perfectly entitled to determine how they
should be governed and what form this government should take. The present
government in Westminster is clearly not reflective of Scottish wishes
(10 Conservative MP's out of 72 Scottish MP's is hardly a mandate to
govern in Scotland!) and as such, the system should be reviewed.

The CC includes 80% of Scotlands MP's and MEP's (no Conservative or SNP
representation) , members of every Regional and Island council and the 
vast majority of District Councils. There are also representatives from 
the Churches, business, industry and trade unions. Harry Ewing MP and
the Rt. Hon. David Steel MP jointly chair the CC.

The Claim of Right follows:

"We, gathered as the Scottish Constitutional Convention, do hereby 
acknowledge the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine
the form of government best suited to their needs, and do hereby
declare and pledge that in all our actions and deliberations their
interests shall be paramount."

"We further declare and pledge that our actions and deliberations
shall be directed to the following ends. To agree a scheme for an
Assembly or Parliament for Scotland; to mobilise Scottish opinion 
and ensure the approval of the Scottish people for that scheme; and
to assert the right of the Scottish people to secure the implementation
of that scheme."

Here are some notes on popular Vs Parliamentary sovereignty:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Claim of Right depends on whether sovereignty lies with Parliament
or not. If sovereignty lies with parliament, then a Scottish Parliament
can only be set up by an act of the UK Parliament, but can also be
taken away by the same parliament even though it is the right of the
Scottish people and not the UK parliament to determine their own form
of government. The Ireland Act (1920) established a Northern Ireland
Parliament, however this parliament was abolished in 1972 by the UK
government!! 

Scottish sovereignty has never been with Parliament, as the Scottish 
monarch's power was traditionally made by acting through the Parliament 
via the Church, the nobility and landowners. As a result, it was that 
the latter three groups (representing the people) could influence the 
decisions of the monarch, and hence affect what went through Parliament. 
Hence, sovereignty is deemed to have been with the people = 'popular 
sovereignty'

The principle of Parliamentary Sovereignty derives from English
constitutional doctrine and has become an unwritten and largely 
unchallenged convention of the UK 'constitution'. (There are only
3 countries in the world without a written constitution - the UK,
Israel and New Zealand). 

The basic principle of Scottish constitutional theory was not removed
by the Acts of Union. They may have abolished the Parliament of Scotland
but they did not abolish the sovereignty of its people. In a representative
democracy, based upon the universal franchise popular sovereignty can
only have one interpretation : The electors of Scotland are sovereign
over their own affairs. Popular sovereignty should not be confused with
political and national independence from the rest of the UK.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Craig Cockburn, Digital Equipment Co. Ltd, Newbury, England.  
  ARPAnet: cockburn@majors.enet.dec.com                            Saor
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  Views here are my own, and are not necessarily those of Digital
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