Written by Stephen Bailey. Scottish and Welsh separatist parties, the SNP and Plaid Cymru have recently announced a new partnership to form a ‘progressive alliance’ against Westminster. The collaboration was formalized through a meeting between First Minister John Swinney and Plaid Cymru Leader Rhun ap Iorwerth in Edinburgh on October 30th 2025. The meeting at […]
Written by Stephen Bailey. It is a fact of UK Constitutional Law that no party can receive a mandate for separating one part of the UK from the rest of the country at a devolved election as the Constitution (the heading under which ‘independence’ falls) is a reserved matter and so is for the sole […]
Written by Stephen Bailey. Robert Black of Edinburgh University has asserted that Scotland was ‘absorbed’ into England by the Acts of Union of 1706-07, rather than being a partner in a union. He has said that Scotland ceased to exist as a state in international law after 1707, while England continued to exist and was […]
Written by Stephen Bailey. Under the following laws, Constitutional matters are in the sole remit of the UK Parliament at Westminster (the Houses of Commons and Lords): The Scotland Act 1998, The Wales Act 2017 And the Northern Ireland Act 1998. Let’s look at what each act says about constitutional matters: Under the Scotland Act […]
Written by Stephen Bailey. The administration of John Major (1990-1997), which came into office after the collapse of the last Thatcher government, can hardly be credited with many successes. There was one reform he introduced however that was very successful and is actually a good example and template for how those who want to maintain […]
Written by Stephen Bailey. The latest (2024-25) GERS Report underlines the collective economic strength of being in the United Kingdom. The pooling and sharing of resources across the UK means that Scots benefit by £2,669 more per head in public spending than the UK average (the same is true for Ulster and Wales, who receive […]
The latest annual ‘Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland’ Report (GERS) (2024-25) is available for analysis and is extremely revealing for several reasons. According to the Scottish Executive’s (Holyrood) own website (see ‘sources’ below for a link to this site), GERS is described thus: ‘Q: Who produces GERS? ‘A: GERS is produced by Scottish Government statisticians. […]