RACIST? ILLEGAL? NOT WHEN IT CONCERNS SCOTLAND.
A VOICE FOR SCOTLAND? OF COURSE -A SECRETARY OF STATE AND A WHOLE PARLIAMENT.
A VOICE FOR ENGLAND? NONE AT ALL.
JOBS FOR SCOTLAND? PERFECTLY LEGAL.
JOBS FOR ENGLAND? ILLEGAL AND RACIST.
‘The past week has highlighted how differently Scotland and England are treated’, said Michael Knowles member of the National Council of the Campaign for an English Parliament. ‘A leaked memo from shopbuilders BVT revealed the possibility of large-scale redundancies on the Clyde, affecting both its Glasgow shipyards, Scotstoun and Govan (but, interestingly, not Rosyth in Fifeshire which borders on the constituency of Gordon Brown). Immediately both the UK Scottish Department and the Scottish Parliament swung into action. ‘The UK government is determined to stand by the Clyde,’ announced Jim Murphy Scotland’s Secretary of State. ‘The order book is full. Jobs are guaranteed for at least the next 7 years. We have a commitment to the Clyde, we’re here for the long-term.’ And SNP MSP for Govan, Nicola Sturgeon, deputy First Minister in the Scottish parliament waded in behind. ‘We must have a guarantee from Gordon Brown that the Ministry of Defence will not force the closure of any Scottish shipyard.’
‘Contrast all that with how England is dealt with. The shipyards of Devonport, Portsmouth, Appledore, the Medway, Camel Lairds in Birkenhead, the Tyne and Barrow in Furness, they have all either been reduced or closed, even on occasion work taken from them and transferred to the Clyde, and not one single UK minister even speaks out. There is no voice for England, there is no minister for England, there is no parliament for England. England simply has no recognition. None whatsoever. It’s lost somewhere in the bowels of the UK state.
‘When English workers demonstrated recently for British jobs for British workers at the Lindsey refinery in Lincolnshire, they were told that their demand was illegal. Even racist. But Scottish law demands that in Scotland preference is given to any workers living within 40 miles of a site. The Scottish Parliament exists for no other purpose except to get what is best for Scotland. The legislation for the Welsh Assembly even states that the whole point of the Assembly is to ‘focus on the concerns of the Welsh nation’
‘The CEP welcomes anything that can give the people of Scotland and Wales the best of everything. All it asks is that the same is done for the people of England. A voice for England. A First Minister for England. A Parliament for England. In other words, Equality within the Union for England. How refreshing it would be to hear a First Minister for England announcing in the face of the threat of job cuts: ‘The UK government is determined to stand by the Tyne or Appledore or Devonport or Barrow…We must have a guarantee from Gordon Brown that the Ministry of Defence will not force the closure of any English shipyard.’. The deep truth is that no UK minister is happy to employ the word ‘English’. That is the one taboo in UK politics that has still to be broken.
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How about sending this to representatives (former?) of the shipyards of Devonport, Portsmouth, Appledore, the Medway, Camel Lairds in Birkenhead, the Tyne and Barrow in Furness. Or just start circulating this article in those areas (blogs forum etc.).
July 13th, 2009 at 8:10 amTypo alert – shopbuilders
July 13th, 2009 at 11:14 am“But Scottish law demands that in Scotland preference is given to any workers living within 40 miles of a site.”
This is rubbish. There is nothing in Scots Law which makes such a commitment. I used to work for a Japanese multi-national in central Scotland and at any one time there could be up to 200 Japanese working there, the reason being that they had specialist skills e.g. they could speak Japanese. Other jobs (e.g. sparkies, welders, fitters) were contracted to local workers. Ultimately it was cost that determined where labour was hired from.
Regarding the shipyards, whatever the Jim Murphy or Nicola Sturgeon say is of no consequence – they are just playing politics. The MOD are required by UK and European law to put contracts out to tender. It would be totally illegal for government ministers to interfere in the MOD’s procurement process. If Scottish yards win contracts then it is because they have a lot of natural advantages like deep water, a superb engineering skills base and a years of experience in working for the Royal Navy. If however you think that anything improper has happened, details of any MOD procurement should be obtainable through Freedom of Information.
July 14th, 2009 at 9:26 pmDave: Not enshrined in Scots Law, but according to Michael Connarty permitted in Scotland as a “long standing working practice” despite its apparent illegality http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/scots-mp-fears-antiforiegner-feeling.4948509.jp (The Scotsman 5th February 2009).
As to politics playing no part in where defence orders are placed (and where the government investment is made to enable them to be carried out), you surely jest. Whether this order will survive the next election is a moot point, but it has a better chance in Scotland than if it had been placed with an English yard. With any luck though, Scottish independence will put an end to the argument (and the Clydeside order).
July 15th, 2009 at 9:53 amJames
What Michael Connarty is explicitly referring to is a private agreement between employers in the engineering construction industry and their unions. How the agreement works and how they get round EU rules I don’t know.
I have worked all my life in Scotland, 25 years in electronics manufacturing (where I was involved in some major construction projects) and the last 7 years in IT. I never once came across this “long standing working practice” that Mr Connarty refers to. I suspect it is something unique to the petro-chemical plant at Grangemouth. Nor is it something I support. The economy of large parts of rural Scotland would devastated if employers were forced to give priority to people living within a 40 mile radius. Employers should be free to employ the best person for the job or sub-contract to the most cost effective contractor.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:29 pmOne just has to look at the UK banking system to know that Scotland gets away with murder. The unionists just keep on buying them out.
Notice the London clearings are the British Bankers Association but Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own distinctive ones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sort_Codes_of_the_United_Kingdom
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:47 amNorthern Rock – that well known Scottish Bank !
Francis – BOS and RBS are UK banks not purely Scottish, regulated by the FSA & BOE – if regulated is the right word. If those two banks had gone down then the UK would have gone bankrupt which is why they were bailed out. Frankly I would have been happier if they had been allowed to go bust as they are run by corporate idiots who seem to think that banks are there to make them lots of money.
Yes they do have their own sort code – so what – Scotland has its own STD telephone codes as well.
As for jobs, England and Scotland are restricted about what they can do by the EU overlords, and any business in the UK should be able to recruit the best person for the job.
The real question is about social mobility, immigration and the size of the population. The UK is a small island with a growing population. We haven’t been self sufficient for years in food, energy or manufacturing with the result that there are too many people chasing too few real jobs. So we see increasing numbers of people being angry that they can’t get work and when ‘foreigners’ be they from outside the UK or from other countries within the UK get those local jobs – it just gets worse.
A total ban on all immigration, self sufficiency in food & energy and increased manufacturing is what is needed. I want to buy UK made goods, made by UK workers and support people in the UK – Do the government ?
I also want an independent Scotland, England & Wales within a commonwealth UK
July 24th, 2009 at 11:09 amThanks for your comment Mr McFeagle.
Yes RBS and HBOS are UK banks but isn’t that because the Natwest Group is part of RBS ans Halifax part of BOS? I know there are few Scottish banks in England and English Banks like Barclays and HSBC in Scotland but they cancel each other out.
I agree with you about a commomwealth UK, the home nations need to trade and work together within an independence framework. You are right too much immigration and more manufacturing are what’s needed to improve our economies.
July 24th, 2009 at 12:51 pm