Campaign For An English Parliament: Gordon Brown's Statement Reeks Of Hypocrisy

GORDON BROWN SLAMMED FOR HYPOCRISY AND DOUBLE STANDARDS.

CEP Press Release, Wednesday, 26 March, 2008.

On the eve of announcing a review of devolution in Scotland for the purpose of extending the powers of the Scottish Parliament Gordon Brown denounced nationalism in the UK, saying it was a threat to the stability and the health of the Union.

'His hypocrisy is incredible' Mrs Scilla Cullen, Chairman of the Campaign has retorred. 'Simply incredible. It's time he began to have a serious debate with himself. It was Brown who with other prominent Scottish MPs such as Alistair Darling who signed the Scottish 'Claim of Right' in Edinburgh in 1989 declaring that under the UN Charter of the Rights of Nations Scotland had 'the right to govern itself'. It was he, together with Alistair Darling and his fellow Scottish MPs, who then put their signatures to the solemn promise 'to make the interests of Scotland paramount in everything they did'. It was Brown who was the engine behind the Scottish Constitutional Convention and steamrolled the legislation setting up a Scottish Parliament through Westminster in 1998. If the Union is now under threat, it is Gordon Brown who more than anyone else has wounded it.'

'What is even more hypocritical', Mrs Cullen has stated,' is the way he is now denouncing English nationalism after he spent the 80s and most of the 90s fomenting Scottish nationalism and making Scotland some 75% independent of the United Kingdom and self-ruling in all its internal affairs. He is trying to represent the rise in English patriotism as a threat to the Union when all we want is what he got for his own Scotland. He let the genie of Scottish nationalism out of the bottle, it was who unscrewed the lid. Now we want the chance to speak our minds in a referendum like his people did. We want the same opportunity to consider and debate our future just like Scotland has had. To achieve that the Campaign is organising a major national conference open to everyone to take place Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn, London on April 26th. Speakers include Frank Field MP, Canon Kenyon Wright OBE, Simon Lee of Hull University and Hugo de Burgh Professor of Journalism at Westminster University'


for contacts:

Michael Knowles Head of Media Unit, Campaign for an English Parliament
Tel: 01260 271139. Email: michael-knowles@tiscali.co.uk

Scilla Cullen, Chairman
Tel: 01439 833155 Email: scilla.cullen@thecep.org.uk