Friday, 3 October 2008
Gordon Brown's sham British agenda
Following the Labour delusion seminar conference last week a BBC journalist slipped under the editorial radar to post this piece that shines a light on the baby elephant in the room - namely the impact of devolution. Due to the degree of self determination afforded to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies, Gordon Brown's references in his conference speech to Britain when discussing certain topics agenda are an exercise in deceit:
The prime minister has set out a vision for the country at his party conference, a policy prescription that he says could help see in a "British century".Bravo! As always, credit where it is due. At least the BBC has one journalist who is prepared to pull back the curtain (in albeit limited fashion) and reveal the sham of Brown's agenda for the "British Century". The piece takes Health, Education, Environment and Social Care as examples to highlight that where Brown talks of 'Britain', thanks to devolution, what he really means is England, the politically impoverished country that dare not say its own name. It is a wilful act of dishonesty.
But is Gordon Brown promising more than he can deliver without the co-operation of the devolved assemblies?
The PM's conference speech reveals a reluctance to talk explicitly about the limits to Westminster's power that devolution imposes on some of the policy areas that top his list of priorities.
The democratic deficit means Brown's measures will be rammed through with the votes of Labour MPs from Scotland and Wales - and possibly another helping hand from the DUP. As always, those MPs will be imposing legislation on England that will not apply in their own countries. So for Brown to speak in a British context on these matters when there is no guarantee the devolved parliament and assemblies will adopt the legislation themselves, is nothing more than a fraud.
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