Brown says London must keep promise to

Scotland as political truce ends

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown speaks to pupils during a visit to Kelty Primary School in Fife , Scotland September !,
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B& G'& F(')*+,B-./G0 (,/ M.*1(0) 1+)/0,2Sat Sep 20, 2014
(Reuters) - Former prime minister Gordon Brown urged
British leaders on Saturday to keep their promise to grant further powers to Scotland
after it voted to remain in the nited !ingdom" as a consensus #etween London$s main
parties evaporated%
&ll the three #iggest parties had promised to rapidly e'pand Scotland$s autonomy in a
last-minute push to shore up support for the union (ust days #efore )hursday$s
referendum" which came down **-+* against independence%
But within hours of the result" Britain$s ,onservative -rime .inister /avid ,ameron
had reshuffled the cards #y promising not only to fulfil the pledge to Scotland #ut also
to make it part of an overhaul of the #alance of powers across the rest of the nited
!ingdom" within the same timeframe of a few months%
0e vowed to produce 1a #alanced settlement2 fair to people in Scotland and"
importantly" to everyone in 3ngland" 4ales and 5orthern 6reland as well1%
)he announcement 7uickly shattered the pre-referendum consensus among London$s
main parties%
La#our opposition leader 3d .ili#and said plans for constitutional change on that
scale needed to #e put to mem#ers of the pu#lic through a convention in autumn 89:*"
after the ne't parliamentary election - which ,ameron$s ,onservatives said amounted
to kicking the issue 1into the long grass1%
La#our$s Brown" who had helped to rally fellow Scots #ehind the nited !ingdom" told
supporters on Saturday in Fife" Scotland" that 1the eyes of the world are upon the
leaders of the ma(or parties in the nited !ingdom1%
1)hese are men who have #een promise-makers and they will not #e promise-
#reakers"1 he said" 1and 6 will ensure as a promise-keeper that these promises that
have #een made are upheld%1
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&lthough the referendum result was clearer than e'pected" the fact that +* percent
#acked secession attested to a dissatisfaction with London$s politicians that reaches
from the divided streets of 5orthern 6reland to impoverished former mining villages in
4ales" and not least to struggling parts of northern 3ngland that feel a million miles
from the relative prosperity of London and the southeast%
4ith Scotland having put regionalism high on the agenda" ,ameron and the other
London parties are under pressure to demonstrate that 3ngland -- which unlike
Scotland" 4ales or 5orthern 6reland has no regional government of its own -- is not
disadvantaged in financial or democratic terms%
14e can$t allow there to #e a different process of devolution to Scotland and a different
timeta#le for 3ngland" we have to do the two together or not at all"1 said ,onservative
lawmaker &ndrew -ercy%
1)he 3nglish cannot #e fo##ed off% 6 don$t think the 3nglish pu#lic will stand for it"1 he
told BB, radio%
But senior La#our lawmaker 0ilary Benn said giving more powers to 3ngland could
not #e decided under ,ameron$s timeta#le%
;n the eve of the La#our party$s annual conference in the northern 3nglish city of
.anchester" .ili#and said living standards were top of the agenda for voters in ne't
.ay$s election%
1,onstitutional change matters" #ut we know something else matters even more"1 he
told supporters% 1)his country doesn$t work for most working people and we" the
La#our -arty" are going to change it%1
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4ith polls suggesting that the election will #e a tight contest" ,ameron may fear Scots$
wrath over a possi#le delay to their increased powers less than that of his own
lawmakers in London" who have seen support #leed away to the rising anti-3 !
6ndependence -arty (!6-)%
0is initiative would seek to address the constitutional conundrum of Scottish mem#ers
of the British parliament voting on ! policies - for instance" on health or education -
that do not apply to self-ruling Scotland%
But while ,ameron$s ,onservatives won (ust one parliamentary seat in Scotland at the
last election - part of the reason why many Scots felt under-represented in London -
La#our has +: Scottish .-s" and every reason not to reduce their influence%
<ust #efore the Scottish referendum" Brown appeared to #e making government policy
in announcing that laws granting further devolution to the Scottish parliament would
#e drafted #y the time Scots cele#rate the #irthday of their most revered poet" Ro#ert
Burns" on <an% 8*%
/uring the campaign" ,ameron" .ili#and and Li#eral /emocrat leader 5ick ,legg for
their part all promised to guarantee Scotland high levels of state funding and greater
control over healthcare spending%
Scottish First .inister &le' Salmond on Friday announced his resignation after defeat
on the issue to which he had devoted his political life" #ut told his supporters2
14e have now the opportunity to hold 4estminster$s feet to the fire on the vow that
they have made to devolve further meaningful power to Scotland%1
/espite cross-party calls for reconciliation after the vote" si' people were arrested in
Glasgow late on Friday when police had to divide hundreds of secessionists and
unionists waving flags and chanting national hymns%
(3diting #y !evin Liffey)
-osted #y )havam