Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Britain Minus Scotland?

Writing in The Chicago Sun-Times, John O’Sullivan surfaces some points that have arisen in the wake of the discussion about possible nationhood for Scotland:

1. The fact that Britain's public expenditure includes a $50 billion subsidy for Scotland.


2. The ''West Lothian Question.'' This is the apparent unfairness that Scottish MPs in the U.K. Parliament in Westminster get to vote on all issues affecting England, but English MPs are barred from voting on issues -- for instance, housing and education -- that are the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament.

3. The political fact that Britain has a Labor government because of Scottish votes; Labor is in an almost permanent minority in England.

4. The fact that a very high percentage of Labor Cabinet ministers are Scots, including the likely next prime minister, Gordon Brown. (Tony Blair is a Scot, too, but not very noticeably.)

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