I find it strange that the media are discussing the idea
of a customs barrier in the Irish Sea as though it was something new and
completely unprecedented. Our partner in the 1707 Union, the Parliament of
England, has operated a customs barrier in the North Sea and the North
Atlantic for many years. I am referring to the customs barrier that separates
Scotland from an area known as the United Kingdom Continental Shelf.
Every worker or piece of equipment that makes the
journey from Scotland to an oilfield installation off our coast, crosses this
customs barrier at the 12-mile-limit. Workers carry passports and equipment
clears customs as it leaves (or enters) Scotland.
Our partner in union traded away the “expendable”
fishing grounds but they are keen to retain control over the oilfields. Their
misuse of the term ‘United Kingdom’ has become so routine that it is perceived
as being an ancient usage. Yet it has only become fashionable in the past
half-century. The name of the 1707 Union as a federal state was and is Great
Britain. It is a state composed of two nations and the Duchy of Cornwall. Wales
was incorporated into England by military conquest a long time ago.
England’s attempts to subdue and incorporate the entire
island of Ireland (Lesser Britain to geographers) have proved to be a deferred
success. These imperial adventures gave rise to the 1801 Union and the name of
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This was abbreviated to ‘Great
Britain’ or ‘Britain’ until the 1970s. The 1801 Union was a fraud entered into
by the ‘Parliament of England’ and a colonial ‘Parliament of Ireland’. The
treaty is drafted so as to be in clear breach of the 1707 Union which
constituted a single Parliament of Great Britain.
The
1707 Union Flag
If we are to proceed towards a meaningful and stable
independence we will need to know who we are negotiating with. We will need to
know who the competent parties to the negotiations are. We must try to set out
our stall so as to make the terms and conditions that end the 1707 Union
difficult for our former partner to wilfully ignore or imaginatively
misrepresent.
If we stick to the two equal states model of the 1707
Union things will be complex enough. If we admit any little Englander fantasies
such as the ‘Rest of the United Kingdom’ we could open the door to a Welsh
solution. The Old English word ‘wales’ means ‘foreigner’. If Scotland shoulders
an equitable and agreed proportion of the debts of Great Britain we would be
taking a first shaky step towards a more dignified and adult future.
If Scotland takes on a fair share of Great Britain’s
debts and liabilities we underline our moral and legal claim on the assets and
equity of Great Britain. This seems to me to be essential if we truly aspire to
take on the tricky business of recovering from the Darien Disaster. By claiming
stewardship of the Parthenon Stones, The Malvinas, Gibraltar and Albania’s gold
we would announce to the world that we are serious.
The
European Union Flag in October 2019
It is to be hoped that the continuing state of England
would see the wisdom in returning to us the Book of Deer, the Burghead Bull and
the Cutty Sark. However that would be up to them. If they really wanted to make
a pacific gesture there are Berwick and Cumberland to consider. They might
offer to take the old nuclear submarines away from Rosyth; but I’m not holding
my breath about that.
Another approach to our resumption of all the outward
trappings of sovereignty would be to start at the top. If we revoked the 1603
Union of the Crowns the constitutional muddy water becomes much clearer. We
could then lay claim to the Koh-i-Noor diamonds. The fake coronation stone would,
of course, be returned to us under a treaty obligation from auld lang syne. If
our former partner was being level-headed and well-intentioned they might
also return the Bishop’s Chair that was stolen from Scone Palace. But I’m not
holding my breath about that.
