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Devolution - The View from Scotland

A fascinating view from North of the Border from the Scotland on Sunday columnist Hardeep Singh Kohli.

I don't think we are as Machiavellian as that, are we?

Are Scots paving the way?

I spent a couple of days in Pembrokeshire last week. I was in St Davids, the United Kingdom's smallest city. I have a lot of time for Wales and the Welsh. There are many parallels between them and the Scots – the sense of nationhood, self-identity, the pride in our respective cultures.

Yet there are two very marked and highly significant differences between us and them. The Welsh have managed to protect their native language with great success; yet it is the Scots that came out the winner in the devolution debate: we got a Parliament, they were fobbed off with a glorified talking shop called an Assembly.

Having spent a lot of time in Wales of late, witnessing the urban regeneration of Cardiff and the re-birth of BBC Wales and the independent television sector in the city, I can't work out why the Welsh haven't exactly busted a gut pushing for a more meaningful democratic representation.

There have been moves to give their Assembly more powers, but it has very much been a softly-softly approach. Perhaps our wily Celtic cousins are biding their time, letting the Scots fight the battle for independence, softening up the Union before they, the Welsh, step in and claim their sovereignty. Cynical? Me?

Comments

Anonymous said…
cynical us welsh, maybe bored and fed up is more true of the current situation and we are also badly led as a nation, whether you agree with Alex Salmond or not, at least he has a vision of where he wants to take Scotland, do Rhodri Morgan or Ieuan Wyn Jones have that sort of vision for Wales?
April 20, 2008 11:00 pm
Anonymous said…
Old Scottish saying : " It's no the gun that counts, it's the man behind it ". Applies aptly to the current WAG set up.Lots of guns, no men !
April 21, 2008 9:03 pm
Ian Titherington said…
There are far fewer parallels between Scotland and Wales than many believe. Scotland has laways had more autonomy and less influence from England, with a tiny border and few English settlements close to it. Compare that with Wales, where Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol are a stones throw from Offa's Dyke.
They also have a meaningful media while we still rely almost entirely on London and 20% of our population was born in England.

Dare I say that a fleeting holiday in Pembs is hardly a sound basis to define the future of Welsh governance?
April 22, 2008 7:45 pm
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