On Wednesday the British government finally announced the West Lothian Question commission that they promised over a year ago, yesterday they gave a practical demonstration of why it’s so desperately needed.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have negotiated a £30.2m bonus from the British government because the British government have spent money in London for the British Olympics. No extra money will be spent in the rest of England where local authorities are facing cuts of about a quarter over the next few years.
The money is being handed over because of what is called Barnett Consequentials – the technical name for giving Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland a big wedge of cash just because the British government have spent some money in England. Barnett Consequentials are part of the balancing mechanism to ensure Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland continue to get the same outrageous level of subsidy at England’s expense no matter how much capital investment the British spend in England.
Paying Barnett Consequentials because of the Olympics is a bloody liberty though because they’re not the English Olympics, they’re the British Olympics. England doesn’t have a Olympic team and the British government’s investment in London is for their Olympics, not for London or for England. Some of the facilities that are being built for the Olympics are going to be relocated to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and some of the events are even being held in those countries. They will “benefit” from the British Olympics as much as the rest of England.
The British government shouldn’t have paid any Barnett money to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for the British Olympics but there was nobody at the meeting representing English interests. As a consequence (excuse the pun), £30.2m of English taxpayers’ money is going to be handed over to the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish for no other reason than because the British spent some money in England for their Olympic vanity project. This has only happened because there is no English government to represent English interests, saying “no, this is your Olympic games, we’re not paying your bribes”.
There are no details as yet on who will be on the West Lothian Commission, what they will consider and whether an English Parliament will be ruled out immediately or when they report in 2013.
The Answer to the West Lothian Question
Under international law, the only effect one Independent State can have upon another Independent State is through the obligation and terms of a bi-lateral Treaty. This principle is embodied in Article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties , that states: a “…party may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty.”
The UK Government draws up on its LEGAL BASIS from Union with Scotland Act 1706 and or the Union with England Act 1707 Article 4 of the Act of Union states: “That all the subjects of the United Kingdom of Great Britain shall from and after the Union………have the same Rights Privileges and Advantages”
However, since devolution the people of England & Scotland, have had different rights, privileges and advantages.
The treaty of union is therefore null and void and England or Scotland can withdraw using the provision of Article 61 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties .
Article 61 Supervening impossibility of performance
A party may invoke the impossibility of performing a treaty as a ground for terminating or withdrawing from it if the impossibility results from the permanent disappearance or destruction of an object indispensable for the execution of the treaty. If the impossibility is temporary, it may be invoked only as a ground for suspending the operation of the treaty.
And that is the Answer to the West Lothian Question.
Yer bollocks…these are not the British Olympics, they are the London Olympics. There’s no legacy for Northern Ireland in this multi-billion pound farce. £30million is less that adequate pay-off for the money thats been ripped off sport here to pay for Seb Coe’s vanity project.
The London Olympics are not British in reality, they will benefit only London and the Southeast (once again). What will the rest of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland benefit from this? NOTHING. Once again, nationalists have found Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland convenient scapegoats where the real problem is London and the Southeast.
So there will be no Scottish or Welsh or Irish (NI or republic) represented at these games then Dan or/and Alex?
I have read some small minded petty comments in my time relating to the games but you must be the smallest and pettiest of the lot.
And that money can be redirected from impoverished English counties to shovel another load of cash to Scotland and the Welsh is an abomination. What an overwhelming sense of entitlement these petty EU regions have.