Scottish Assembly
Mr Edward Short, the Minister in charge of what the Government is pleased to call its devolution unit, has indicated that, despite rumours to the contrary, there will be no serious delay in presenting to the House of Commons a Bill for the establishment of a Scottish Assembly. The powers of this assembly are, however, as yet undefined, and the capacity it will enjoy for raising taxation is giving rise both to curiosity and to apprehension. At the same time, the attitude of the Conservative Party is rapidly becoming far more critical than it was when Mr Heath used every ounce of his influence and energy to foist the idea of an Asgembly on the reluctant Scottish Conservatives. Mrs Thatcher has long been known to be highly suspicious of currently fashionable devolutionary ideas; and though such Scottish Tory Members as Mr Malcolm Rifkind continue to preach their support of the Assembly, there is little doubt that the body of Conservative opinion has now shifted against the Government's proposals. This is very much to the good. The idea of elected Assemblies for Scotland and Wales was never much more than a panic-stricken response by the two major political parties to the apparently rising tide of nationalism — a tide already on the ebb. At best, a Scottish Assembly is likely merely to add yet another layer of burdensome bureaucracy to the already overburdened Scottish structure of local government. At worst, it would, as the Scottish Nationalists hope, lead to the severance of Scotland from the United Kingdom. It is high time that the Westminster parties realised that the principal cause of the electoral good fortune the SNP has enjoyed in the last two years was the incompetence of government from London: provide Scotland and Wales with reasonably decent government and no more will be heard of nationalism.
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