A Scottish Assembly
LETTERS
From: Mrs Winifred Ewing. MP, T.C. Skeffing-
ton-Lodge, E. E. Bonn,r''S McKinlay, !an McKendrick, Timothy Harrison, S. M. Had- dock, Robert E. Walters I. G. Wood, Brian Pearce, Hugh Jenkins. %f P. Roland Starke, P. M. Plaskitt, Sir Paul Gore-Booth.
Sir: Mr Heath's proposals made last week at Perth for a Scottish Assembly should be seen as a compromise between the diehards of the Tory party in Scotland, who provide the money, and the young Tory element of the party who are looking for winnable seats and who are, therefore, looking for some kind of counter to the advances made by the Scottish National Party.
It is obvious that Mr Heath does not really need any of the Scottish seats to secure a majority at the next general election. It fol- lows, then, that nothing really drastic should be proposed in an attempt i.) gain Tory votes.
Up here most of our members take the view that once the general election comes and goes leaving Mr Heath and his party in power the whole plan will quietly be shelved. After all, there is ample precedent for this.
The Labour party on th - other hand might see this as their opportunity to make a better bid for the Scottish vote. Given a few election- eering budgets in the next couple of years, it is possible they might gain sufficient seats in Eng- land (although a minority ) with a majority of Scottish seats and might just win the day. This is exactly what happened in October 1964.
To prove his bona fides I would suggest an essential prerequisite of any Labour bid would be the dismissal or elevation of our present Secretary of State for Scotand. My own feeling is that at a general election in three years' time, whatever ploys either of the London-based parties adopt, there will be a majority of Scot- tish National party MPS elected.
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