Posted on 01/16/2007 3:16:50 PM PST by Mark Felton
Prime Minister Tony Blair has warned against any bid to break Britain apart, saying it would be "a crazy" step 300 years after Scotland and England united.
Blair's warning Tuesday came as the Scottish National Party (SNP) used the anniversary of their union to launch a fresh drive for independence, while some opinion polls suggested a majority of Scots and English want to separate.
Speaking at his monthly press conference, Blair said Britons should celebrate "with pride" Tuesday's tercentenary of the merger of the Scottish and English parliaments.
"In commerce, in trade, in security and above all in shared values, the union of England and Scotland continues to be good for England, good for Scotland and right for the future of Britain," Blair said.
It would be "crazy for Scotland to be wrenched out of the United Kingdom" of Britain and Northern Ireland, he added, noting that 2.5 million Scots live in England, half Scotland's total. England's population is some 50 million.
"Separation is a retreat into an old-fashioned view of the world that would be bizarre in the 21st century," Blair warned. "It would be an incredibly regressive and reactionary step to break it apart now."
Blair, who was born and schooled in Edinburgh, warned that even the prospect of a referendum on Scottish independence would damage economic confidence.
However, he stopped short of echoing a warning by Gordon Brown, his Scottish finance minister and heir apparent, of a "dangerous drift" toward separatism in Britain.
The SNP is using the anniversary to back its bid in May local elections to wrest control of the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh from a coalition of Labour and Liberal Democrats with plans for such a referendum.
Having disappeared 300 years ago during the January 16, 1707 Act of Union, a limited Scottish parliament was restored in 1999 as part of a bid to blunt separatism by Blair's Labour government.
However, the SNP insists desire for a separate Scotland is higher than ever.
"Those in the London parties who would deny the people their right to choose are the political reincarnation of the 'parcel of rogues' of 1707 who sold Scotland away," SNP leader Alex Salmond said.
His party played on the grievance by launching a campaign featuring posters declaring: "1707 No right to choose -- 2007 the right to choose."
George Foulkes, a Labour member of the unelected House of Lords in London, told AFP his party was mounting a vigorous campaign for seats in the Scottish parliament as he was "genuinely concerned" about rising separatist sentiment.
Though two polls since November showed that a majority of Scots and English favored a split, a BBC poll on Tuesday found that 56 percent of Scots and 73 percent of the English supported union.
Blair suggested the way some opinion polls are phrased can influence people's answers. "I don't think people in Scotland want independence," he said.
No extravagant bash is in the works for the tercentenary. Planned events include the launching of two-pound commemorative coin in London Tuesday evening.
"I think they realized that very few people would turn up -- and it's unwise to hold a party no-one would come to," the SNP leader said.
Blair said union was about substance rather than glitz.
"The most important thing is not fireworks but argument, and giving a coherent reason as to why the union of England and Scotland is good for today's world and the future," Blair said.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.
It is incredible that a so called piece of "journalism" does not even address the most important question of the entire story!! Why??
Its like saying the South wants to secede from the Union but the papers never mention the reasons.
It is obvious that they do not want to publicize the reasons for the rift because then the people would begin to understand the situation and most probably would support the secession, and furthermore it is no doubt a step backwards for the global progressives.
Good grief these progressives are every bit as bad as Izvesti and Pravda, perhaps worse because everybody understood that Pravda/Izvestia were biased government organs.
I guess Blair didn't see Braveheart.
BTW: "How the Scots Invented the Modern World" is a terrific book and should be mandatory reading in all high school hisotry classes.
They established the concept of "government for the people, by the people, of the people" and the idea of modern democracy.
They are true liberty fighters adn their ideas were fundamental to the founding of the USA.
Study history, Mark. Some things never die, no matter how much you try to bury them. Language, culture, heritage, if you talk to a Scot you will find how hard it was to lose everything. I don't know that it matters much to anyone else, but those little Kelpies are still out there.
I was stationed outside of Glascow for almost four years. Ask a Scot, why they want to leave the union, you will find out.
You have to ask? Damn.
It starts with Edward. Google English massacre Scots.
Sadly, most prominent Scots politicians, even those heading the independence movement, are generally far to the left even for the UK. An independent Scotland run by them would become a Third-World cesspit in record time I fear.
Thanks for asking the IMPORTANT question. I too have failed to acquire the understanding of exactly what it is that the Scots feel the union with England is depriving them of at this time.
so maybe we can all start here:
http://www.tomgriffin.org/the_green_ribbon/2006/12/state_papers_ma.html
Plus, they have Scotch and really good beer. Not that I would know of course.
I think you're likely right about the left-of-center bent of Scot politicians today. Newspapers, too. The Scots have the reputation of being war fighters without peer. But how would Scotland defend itself outside Britain, or how would it contribute to the common defense with separate command? I am interested in whether the complaints are about local government issues, normally the case, or otherwise.
Actually, I think that the main reason why some support the breakup is, simply, socialism. If you have a socialist state it makes a big difference whether your kind are a majority or a minority.
Given Blair's gutting of the navy and the army, they shouldn't count on Britain for defense.
That being said, the Scots are a bunch of lefties these days.
The majority of Scots with the "freedom loving gene" left a long time ago, crossed the Atlantic, and helped make America.
My ancestors, MacLeod's, lost everything in Scotland which wasn't much to begin with, came to North Carolina shortly before the Revolution, eventually acquired land, houses, and ,yes, slaves. They again lost everything in the Civil War when Sherman marched through Fayetteville, NC. And eventually, they recovered yet again.
Not anymore--the SNP are socialist bordering on communist. The reason Scotland would secede is because the rest of Britain isn't progressive enough!
I hope yedenaykenfetyertakinaboot
The people themselves have a history of fierce resistance to tyranny.
In the US we are also ruled by parties that seek evermore socialism.
Study history?? What am I trying to bury? tell me what I have wrong.
BTW: I grew up over there. And travelled often on business. I got my O and A levels at Aberdeen Grammar School, and lived 6 years in England.
Yeah, but now the tyranny they are trying to resist is capitalism and British market driven economics.
They'll try to tax themselves into prosperity in a fit of Nationalism.
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