The following letter dated 19 December 2006 was sent by Mike Barnacle and colleagues.
Open Letter From Scottish Liberal Democrat Council Members for Kinross-shire
Dear Editor
Liberal Federal Model Way Forward for Britain
If recent opinion polls in England and Scotland are to be believed, it would seem there is a majority in favour of Scottish independence and the subsequent break up of the British state. We suggest this may indicate an element of sleep walking towards a conclusion that would not be in the best interest for our islands.
Since Gladstone’s time the Liberals have espoused the concept of home rule for the four nations (five, if the Cornish aspiration is included) that make up the British state. The loss of Ireland and its arbitrary division was the first casualty of not bringing the home rule concept fully into play earlier. We now have degrees of devolved administration in place for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales but they all have differing powers and all depend on block grants from Westminster. England currently has no parliament of its own where only English MPs make law and policy relevant to their country. This constitutional shambles results from the Labour Party’s piecemeal approach to necessary change that is long overdue.
We believe it would be a serious mistake to dismantle completely the concept of the British state but this could conceivably be the outcome from the present situation.
We believe it essential to retain unified British armed forces to defend our islands and a unified foreign policy. One may, as we do, fundamentally disagree with the Labour Party’s slavish endorsement of the USA’s disastrous middle east policy and unwinnable war on terror (tackling the seeds of terrorism through early dialogue is required), not forgetting their recent decision to endorse a replacement for the trident nuclear deterrent at a time when our conventional forces are ill equipped for their expanded role, but British Government foreign policy should be changed through the electoral process!
Meaningful devolution and the creation of home rule parliaments for England (preferably outwith London), Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales with full tax raising powers to fund domestic programmes is the way forward, with a reformed Westminster merely retaining control of foreign affairs, macro-economic policy, currency matters and the welfare state. House of Lords reform appears as far away as ever with this Government.
All main taxation should be based upon the principle of ability to pay, determined upon income, a figure known for each UK resident by the tax authorities. We suggest therefore that there is a strong irrefutable argument for the British state, the devolved home rule parliaments and local authorities to be funded by tiered levels of income tax to be ascertained once the known policy programmes/budgets and areas of responsibility have been finalised.
This proposal is the kernel of the Liberal approach to a federal system of government for Britain and we strongly suggest that the other political parties should engage with it and enter into dialogue upon it now.
The people of Britain want change to our present arrangements and the parties have a duty to respond and reach a majority consensus on the way forward, using referendums if necessary to ascertain views.
Yours faithfully
Cllr Michael Barnacle Cllr Willie Robertson Cllr George Hayton
Scottish Liberal Democrat Council Members for Kinross-shire