THE DEBATE CONTINUES..WE WILL WIN!

A guest contribution from regular Breeks.

“It’s very clear that Sara Salyers has done an enormous amount and has got this subject nailed.”

I agree 100% Daisy, and I also echo what Iain said earlier, thank you deeply for all you’re doing Sara. I think there’s a point where robust and rigorous scrutiny (which is all a good thing), becomes myopic pedantry and if there’s any point to be scored, it seems an obscure one.

I think some folks are seeing the Claim of Right as a potential fly in the ointment for Westminster rule. It is so much more. They have yet to grasp we are dealing with a radically different type of ointment altogether.

It might sound like a strange parallel, but I think Scotland’s Constitutional sovereignty and common weal philosophy is a lot like lime mortar. It once was everywhere, it’s use was once so commonplace and unremarkable, that literally, nobody remarked on it. Nothing was written down, no system or methodology was recorded for anything so mundane, and after two world wars in close succession, the once ubiquitous and commonplace knowledge of lime mortar had come perilously close to extinction. The knowledge handed down through countless generations had been lost.

A very small number of people however, laboriously dredged whatever historical references could be found, tried and tested methods and practices to rediscover what worked, and after a couple of decades, we have somewhat rehabilitated our knowledge of lime working, though much of importance has been lost.

In many of these uncovered Constitutional documents, the references to the Claim of Right, the Common Weal, the salvo jure cujuslibe principles are fleeting and almost casual in their nature, sometimes neither definitive nor even prescriptive by themselves. But this is not evidence of weakness, but of strength. They are not prescriptive in detail because they never had to be. Such philosophies were commonplace, common knowledge, the societal “norm”, – simply “the way things were” before the Union.

These surviving remnants of Scotland’s Constitutional past are the threads which have survived, but the tapestry they came from is incomplete. Damaged and incomplete yes, but thankfully the essence of it has survived… just.

The job we have in front of us is to refurbish the Constitutional Tapestry of Scotland in order to rehabilitate those elements of our pre-Union society which are needed now, today, to reverse Scotland out of this dysfunctional tragic farce of a Union. We need to reinvent Scotland’s Convention of the Estates in a way that is authentic, lawful and capable of legal personality, but most of all get it done!

To my mind, we have three essential tasks.

1) Establish Legal Personality for Sovereign Scotland, = Convention of the Estates must be assembled.

2) Scotland, (and England), must be braced for exiting the Union so the process is orderly and we all survive the bump.

3) We end the Treaty of Union, citing the historic and current breaches of the Articles of the Union.

You might notice there is no reference to a referendum. My personal theory is that it’s more important for Scotland to draw inspiration from Brexit and Article 50 process of the Lisbon Treaty. We don’t have a Lisbon Treaty of course, but I believe we can still engineer one.

We must, in all cases, resurrect the Convention of the Estates. This is essential.

Then, we must serve notice on Westminster that the Articles of Union have been breached, but rather than 3), declaring the Treaty of Union extinguished immediately, Scotland should give notice of it’s intent to end the Treaty of Union after a Lisbon Treaty Article 50 “style” two year Transition Period has expired, to facilitate 2), an orderly end of the Union. 

Thus we can hopefully avoid repetition of the UK’s hard / soft, deal / no deal Brexit process, but present Westminster with an orderly process of disentanglement and preparatory work for life as Independent Nations.

However, to keep the peace in Scotland, hopefully engage moderates who want to keep the Union, and settle cries for democratic ratification, I would as part of the Transition package, commit Scotland to holding a Ratification Plebiscite to be held near the end of the two year transition but before the Union expires; a Plebiscite with an “Article 50 / Joanna Cherry” inspired option to revoke Scotland’s declaration of intent to end the Treaty of Union. Unionists could thus “save” their Union at the death, so there is a very real process of persuasion to be won within that two year transition.

The Convention of the Estates would represent the Constitutional voice of Scotland, (a roll abdicated by a subordinate Holyrood Assembly bound and gagged by the colonial 1998 Scotland Act), and thus the Convention of the Estates would be in charge of the Plebiscite franchise, which would meet UN criteria for recognition.

SALVO’s work revitalising the Claim of Right and overseeing the resurrection of Scotland’s societal Institutions and philosophies is the key to all of this, but it is the right and legitimate key to be used.

I suspect many won’t like the ratification plebiscite with a kill-switch option. But “Courage mon Braves”, we will win, and it will be a better win respectful of our “unpersuaded”

MY COMMENTS

Breeks is making suggestions, not writing rules, he is encouraging constructive debate on the way forward and he is right to do so. We will engage more people in learning about the Claim of Right 1689 by involving as many as possible in the discussion. From that process will come the best strategy and tactics. We know our citizens need educated on this. I can’t think of a better way of doing this than fanning widespread debate and discussion. It is also what this blog is all about so I am happy.

I am, as always

YOURS FOR SCOTLAND.

 BEAT THE CENSORS

The purpose of this blog is to advance Scottish Independence. That requires honesty and fair reporting of events and opinions. Some pro SNP Indy sites have difficulty with that and seek to ban any blogger who dares to criticise  the Party or its leader. As Yours for Scotland will not bend our principles and allow this attack on free speech to be successful we rely on our readership sharing and promoting our articles on a regular basis. This invalidates the attempts at censorship and ensures the truth gets out there. I thank you most sincerely for this important support.

FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS

Are available from the Home and Blog pages of this website. This ensures you are advised of every new article published on Yours for Scotland. Join the thousands already subscribed and be the first to get the news every day. You will be most welcome.

SALVO

This site has never sought donations, indeed we have a £3 limit alongside a message further explaining that donations are not required. That has now changed as the costs of running this blog have already been raised in donation, therefore  for the remainder of 2022 all donations made to this site will be donated to Salvo to help them educate Scots on the 1689 Claim of Right. This is vital work and we must all do what we can to support it.