Teh One Who Knocks
09-20-2016, 01:03 PM
By Ross Logan - The Express
http://i.imgur.com/bh3t92b.jpg
THE United Kingdom could be broken up into a 'confederation' of separate nations if Scotland quits the union following the Brexit vote, a leading Welsh politician has suggested.
THE United Kingdom could be broken up into a 'confederation' of separate nations if Scotland quits the union following the Brexit vote, a leading Welsh politician has suggested.
Conservative AM David Melding, the Welsh Assembly's erstwhile Deputy Presiding Officer, said his country risked becoming "a constitutional coracle on a tempestuous ocean" if First Minister Nicola Sturgeon succeeded in her mission to keep Scotland in the EU at the expense of Britain.
And he put forward a series of radical proposals to protect Welsh interests in such an event, including the establishment of an "Atlantic Islands Council" of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to replace the disbanded UK.
Other suggestions included a separate Welsh constitution, an official royal residence in Cardiff and the establishment of two new, independent political parties of Wales on both the right and left, Wales Online reported.
The role of Deputy Prime Minister should be enshrined and reserved for a Welsh MP, he suggested, unless the Prime Minster themselves was Welsh.
Likewise the House of Lords could be replaced by a Senate containing a "disproportionally large number of Welsh members and with some form of veto on decisions, altering the balance of powers in the Union”.
Mr Melding said the measures could protect Welsh identity, acknowledging the growing concern that Wales was being "steadily assimilated into its giant neighbour’s political culture".
There was also continuing erosion of Welsh autonomy by Westminster, typified by the inability for Welsh MPs to secure additional Whitehall cash for the nation through - the Barnett formula the system of grants to UK nations.
Speaking at St Andrew's University, he said: "We are the poor cousins among the home nations with little constitutional capital to shape our own future.
"It should surprise no-one that the prospect of Scottish independence in 2014 struck many in Wales with a sense of foreboding.
“A Yes vote would have set Wales adrift – a constitutional coracle on a tempestuous ocean.
“That might yet be our fate post-Brexit."
However, the politician accepted such measures may not be welcomed by English counterparts still smarting from the loss of Scotland, which is why a formal council of the previous Great British nations was vital.
http://i.imgur.com/bh3t92b.jpg
THE United Kingdom could be broken up into a 'confederation' of separate nations if Scotland quits the union following the Brexit vote, a leading Welsh politician has suggested.
THE United Kingdom could be broken up into a 'confederation' of separate nations if Scotland quits the union following the Brexit vote, a leading Welsh politician has suggested.
Conservative AM David Melding, the Welsh Assembly's erstwhile Deputy Presiding Officer, said his country risked becoming "a constitutional coracle on a tempestuous ocean" if First Minister Nicola Sturgeon succeeded in her mission to keep Scotland in the EU at the expense of Britain.
And he put forward a series of radical proposals to protect Welsh interests in such an event, including the establishment of an "Atlantic Islands Council" of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to replace the disbanded UK.
Other suggestions included a separate Welsh constitution, an official royal residence in Cardiff and the establishment of two new, independent political parties of Wales on both the right and left, Wales Online reported.
The role of Deputy Prime Minister should be enshrined and reserved for a Welsh MP, he suggested, unless the Prime Minster themselves was Welsh.
Likewise the House of Lords could be replaced by a Senate containing a "disproportionally large number of Welsh members and with some form of veto on decisions, altering the balance of powers in the Union”.
Mr Melding said the measures could protect Welsh identity, acknowledging the growing concern that Wales was being "steadily assimilated into its giant neighbour’s political culture".
There was also continuing erosion of Welsh autonomy by Westminster, typified by the inability for Welsh MPs to secure additional Whitehall cash for the nation through - the Barnett formula the system of grants to UK nations.
Speaking at St Andrew's University, he said: "We are the poor cousins among the home nations with little constitutional capital to shape our own future.
"It should surprise no-one that the prospect of Scottish independence in 2014 struck many in Wales with a sense of foreboding.
“A Yes vote would have set Wales adrift – a constitutional coracle on a tempestuous ocean.
“That might yet be our fate post-Brexit."
However, the politician accepted such measures may not be welcomed by English counterparts still smarting from the loss of Scotland, which is why a formal council of the previous Great British nations was vital.