A New Union is Required - A Union of Equals
If the Union is damaging Scotland’s development and is no longer fit for purpose, where does this leave Scots who are ambitious for their country, people who believe that Scotland can be a prosperous and dynamic nation? Urgent, radical change is what these Scots are looking for. For nationalists the required change is quite simple, it is independence. Scotland will take full control of its own development and prosperity. For unionists, however, the challenge is much more difficult, how can the necessary radical changes be made but still maintain the Union? The proposals in this blueprint may help answer this question.
Radical Change
The radical change proposed in this blueprint is a new Union, a confederated Union. It is a new Union that is designed for the twenty first century and beyond, a new Union that above all else is a Union of Equals. Both partners in this new confederated Union will have equal rights and equal power; the size and wealth of one nation will not be considered to be a right to more power or authority over the other. It will be a Union in which both parties have clear and distinct ownership over agreed internal matters of state and where there is clear agreement over unified powers. It will be a Union where both partners are in agreement over unified policy and unified legislation. Neither partner will be able to impose its national preferences on the other partner. This new Union will be created by a new treaty between England and Scotland. The starting point for the creation of this new Union treaty will not be a discussion on the powers that can be devolved by Westminster to Edinburgh. The starting point for this discussion will start from where the discussion should have started in 1706, a discussion between equals, the two nations of England and Scotland. The new Union treaty will be developed jointly between the UK government, representing England and the other nations of the British Isles, and the Scottish Government. Once agreed and enacted the new Union treaty will replace the existing Acts of Union.
The foundation for this new Union treaty between England and Scotland will be built on the same type of frameworks used to establish the European Union (EU) treaties. All of the frameworks required to establish this foundation are in use today in existing EU treaties and as such they are all tried and tested. Most importantly, as all of these frameworks have already been agreed at some point in the recent past by a UK government there can be no legitimate argument that they will not be appropriate or conducive to the establishment of a new Union between England and Scotland. Being a Union involving two equal partners will mean that regardless of the size of population or wealth of each nation both parties shall have an equal voice. There will also be an equitable distribution of power and offices of state. Power will not be centralised in one location, the offices of state will be located in both nations, and the leadership of these unified departments of state will be shared equally between the two nations. Leadership of the new United Kingdom confederation will also be equitable with each nation providing the United Kingdom Prime Minister at regular and appointed times.