Scotland's Claims
The fact that 250,000 persons. out of an adult population of perhaps 3,000,000 have signed the Covenant demanding an inde- pendent Parliament for Scotland is not to be dismissed as negligible, though it is certain that the great majority of serious persons north of the Border as well as south would support no such solution.
But the proposals just promulgated by the Conservative committee presided over by Mr. James Stuart, M.P. go far both to disarm the more militant objectors to the existing constitutional arrange- ments and to satisfy all the reasonable demands of those Scotsmen who feel, with considerable justice, that their country is administered too much from Whitehall and too little from Calton Hill. The nationalisation of various industries, with the excessive centralisa- tion which that process entails, has brought Scottish complaints to a head. The Stuart committee proposes that an additional Minister shall be allotted to Scotland, bearing the title of Minister of State for Scotland, working almost entirely in Scotland and Without a seat in the Cabinet. At the same time the appointment of an additional Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (there are at present two) is advocated, with the suggestion that one of the Under-Secretaries should be a member of the House of Lords. These are not revolutionary proposals, but they are sensible, practical and, on the whole, adequate. Mr. Churchill has approved them, and they should be an asset to Conservative candidates in Scottish constituencies
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