The Scotsman reported on 23 January under the title “Scottish independence referendum: First Minister’s aides in hush-hush meeting with English campaigner” that A SECRET meeting was held just before Christmas between two of Alex Salmond’s closest advisers and a campaign group seeking an English parliament, The Scotsman has learned. Eddie Bone, head of the Campaign for an English Parliament, met the SNP First Minister’s special adviser, Alex Bell, and his private secretary, Ian Donaldson, to discuss working together. Opponents believe the meeting is part of a wider strategy by the First Minister to push for independence by stirring up English anger over devolution on issues such as tuition fees and government funding. The story has emerged after a report warned of an “English backlash” in the constitutional debate over the future of the UK with evidence of growing resentment about Scotland south of the Border and Englishness overtaking Britishness as the predominant identity.

The story was absurdly accompanied by a photo of Eddie with Michael Moore, Scottish Secretary in the UK Coalition Government which  was taken at a quite different meeting  when Eddie met Michael Moore and gave him a red rose to ‘think of England’. 

Neither was Eddie’s meeting with the SNP ’secret’ and describing it as ‘hush hush’ is an invention of The Scotsman. In fact, the article is laughable as we, not the SNP, asked for the meeting to see if we could work together and when Eddie went all the way to Edinburgh to meet Alex Bell, the SNP told him, frankly and honestly, that the party had no interest in working with the CEP. The idea that this was part of the some coordinated SNP campaign to stir up the inevitable English ‘backlash’ is therefore misinterpretation.

For the record, the CEP is not ‘supporting’ devo-max for Scotland. We campaign for an English Parliament. We have usually added to that ‘with the same powers as the Scottish Parliament’. Ergo, if Scotland gets devo-max, then England must too.  But, yet again, of course there are no Coalition plans for a referendum to ask the people of England what they want.    If David Milliband would like a secret meeting with the CEP……………………………….