Delaying the Inevitable

Alex Salmond claims that independence for Scotland is "inevitable". I tend to agree with his view, and I suggest further that when Scotland gains its independence Wales will inevitably follow. It depends on the will of the people but as these desires become more widely accepted, as they will, the inevitable will happen. As far as Cornwall is concerned I am aware that the majority of inhabitants are born outside Cornwall and have gone there to settle, and how much they identify with the cause of autonomy remains to be seen.

The biggest stumbling block, however, is the policy of the major British parties, all three of them, to maintain the Union. Both Gordon Brown and David Cameron have voiced their support for and defence of the Union. Nick Clegg for the Liberal Democrats has said that he favours a federation of nations while retaining the British constitution. These parties are essentially British parties, unlike the Welsh and Scots nationalists, which campaign for independence for their respective nations and consequently the dissolution of the Union.

In my view these parties are delaying the inevitable, as the Union is well past its sell-by date. It is the last relic of an English Empire that sought to conquer and subdue its neighbours, namely Scotland which often allied with the French against England, Wales, which fought bravely under Prince Llywelyn I and Owain Glyndwr to stave off the English invasions, Cornwall, which protested under the leadership of Bishop Trelawney, and Ireland, which finally gained its independence after a long struggle but is as yet half-free.