The answer to failed devolution is Scottish Direct Democracy
Brian Wilson criticises Holyrood for being too centralised. Does he think returning to direct Westminster rule would be preferable?
The core problem, which Wilson ignores, is that devolution is Westminster’s creature. It’s England’s colonial arm in Scotland dressed up as a Scottish ‘government’, without the powers of a real government. It can’t keep its own money, own or control its land or resources, set interest rates, determine tax policy, regulate banks, create and spend money on public services and make investment decisions in the best interests of the Scottish People.
And that’s just the economy. Westminster also dictates foreign, trade and defence policy and parachutes in mandarins and managers from England to run our civic, academic and professional institutions.
Wilson is right that Holyrood is too centralised. It’s a Westminster mini-me but without real power. It was doomed to fail.
Scotland has run out of devolutionary road. To animate the Scottish principle of popular sovereignty, we need a system of decentralised direct democracy such as Switzerland’s.
The Swiss People are in control of the politicians at all levels of government. They wrote the constitutions – federal and regional – and can amend them by proposing Popular Initiatives and launching Referendums to reject or approve proposed laws, which they do quarterly.
On March 3rd, the Swiss People voted to include a 13th month to the state pension and rejected a second popular initiative to raise the retirement age to 66. Many Swiss seniors could no longer manage to live on the state pension, so they increased it.
Imagine if the sovereign Scottish People had the power to force their politicians to do their bidding. Our constitution says that we should. So, it’s up to us to ditch devolution and the union, and convene a national Constitutional Convention to create the foundations of a modern Scottish state that puts the People on top.
There is so much to like about DDD. It emphasises Scotland's constitutional right, that the people are sovereign, no area of Scotland can say that the decisions are made by others who don't understand the issues and it offers a complete change on how parliament has been working to date. That has to be something worth voting for.
I’ve lived in Switzerland for 50 years and can confirm that DDD really works. It’s not for nothing that Switzerland comes out top or close to top in comparative country ratings (OECD etc) of well-being, trust in government, education standards etc. Government & Parliament run the country but the People keep them on a pretty tight rein and now and then - like last Sunday 3rd March - the People say, very clearly, “Stop ! Enough’s enough !” as I explained in another post on Dear Scotland a few days ago.