SCOTLAND is not a country but a “region of the UK”, one of Michael Gove’s most senior advisers has said.

Henry Newman, who according to the UK Government’s special advisers register was paid a six-figure salary to advise Gove at the Levelling Up Department, made the comment on the BBC’s Politics Live.

The BBC panel had been discussing Labour’s manifesto pledge to give 16- and 17-year-olds “the right to vote in all elections”.

As it stands, people aged 16 or over can vote in Holyrood and local election in Scotland but cannot vote for MPs at Westminster, where the age limit is 18

Darren Jones, Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, denied Labour’s pledge to lower the age across the board was aimed at capitalising on his party’s traditional significant lead over the Conservatives among younger voters.

He said: “The only age group that's now supportive of the Conservatives are over 71. It doesn't matter whether you're 50, 40, 30, or 16.

“We want to extend the rights to 16- and 17-year-olds because I think it's the right thing to do.”

Tory Science Minister Andrew Griffith insisted that the right to vote should remain at 18 – despite being challenged on the Conservative Party’s policy of accepting 15-year-old members and giving them full voting rights.

He claimed the Labour policy was “the most outrageous form of trying to engineer a political system”.

“It's part of an attack on our settled constitution, and it would deliver this [Labour] government a supermajority,” Griffith added.

“It could last a generation, and it could do untold damage to you, your family and your wallet.”

The floor was then passed to Newman, who said: “I think we should of course listen to young people, who wouldn’t think that?

“But it's Nicaragua, Cuba, Ecuador, Ethiopia, North Korea, Indonesia. These are the countries with votes under 18, and I think for this sort of big change …”

Jones could then be heard to chip in from off-screen to say: “Scotland.”

Responding, Newman said: “Scotland isn’t a separate country but a region of the UK. It does have that.”

Ash Sarkar, the Novara Media contributor sat beside Newman on the BBC panel, could be seen to grimace to the camera after his comment.

The Tory adviser went on: “I think if you want to make these sort of big changes put it to the vote and put a referendum.

“That's what we had in 2012, when we changed, there was a referendum on potentially changing the voting system, on an alternative vote, it was roundly defeated.

“I think it is crazy to try and rig the constitution in your favour so you're held in power for years and years.”

Newman’s comment has been met with anger on social media, with one user writing: “Too many British [people] think that Scotland is a region.

“Most people have little knowledge of the circumstances of the Union, what was agreed and what wasn't.

“This isn't a coincidence, it's just tragic that too many Scots aren't sufficiently inquisitive.”

Newman worked with Dominic Cummings on the Vote Leave campaign in the run-up to the Brexit referendum.

He then advised Boris Johnson in Downing Street, where Cummings described him as one of Carrie Johnson's “best friends”.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/24395650.scotland-not-country-region-uk-tory-adviser-tells-bbc/

by askmac

17 comments

  1. I mean, I can see where he’s coming from. They had a chance to make themselves a proper country 10 years ago and they bottled it. There would be thousands more countries in the world if every region with any sort of independence movement could be considered their own countries 

  2. It’s a constituent country of the UK in much the same way Ontario or Alberta are constituent provinces of Canada. 

  3. England, Scotland, Wales and NI are not countries but regions of the UK

  4. Technically he is correct. The act of union dissolved the sovereignty of both states into one entity with the legal system of both allowing to stay in tact. Northern Ireland is considered a country as Scotland England and Wales but only in the fabric of the sovereign state of the UK. As for Wales in this they were absorbed into England in the 1500s so there was no legal distinction between England and Wales so it’s name was left out of everything as England was the correct name of the nation at that point

  5. Yeah it very much depends on the context.

    Within the UK, discussing UK politics or sport, Yes. For example at the Euros or 6 nations.

    Outside the UK, depends on the sport (Olympics), depends on the politics (for example with EU on the possibility of joining in the case of independence), but in a full legal sense, no.

    Cultural and historical etc. Mostly yes, but very intertwined with the rest of the UK.

  6. Hasn’t the UK been described as a “country of countries”?

  7. Clueless, can’t wait to see the back of the Tories and this rotten government

  9. If you can’t unilaterally withdraw from a union with another country, then you’re not in a union.

    England took control of Scotland and it became their region. Calling the sovereign country “the United Kingdom” instead of England to soften the blow doesn’t change that fact.

    Scotland was allowed to hold on to separate legal and education systems because that didn’t impact on England’s control of it. Anything that does, such as being able to leave whenever they want, is still firmly in control of the parliament of England in Westminster, which lets others take seats in it but remains dominated by English MPs.

    Ever wonder why there’s never much of a push for English devolution? Why would the people in charge need more power devolved to them? It never left them!

  11. Of course he is correct. Doesn’t stop him being an arsehole.

  12. not a problem if he’s consistent with this view and also considers england a region within the uk

  14. Arguing semantics…

    He’s just scared because he knows SCOTLAND WILL CRUSH THEM IN BATTLE

  15. A region of the UK, just like Greater Manchester/East Anglia/West Midlands.

  16. Dame as England is also not a country but region of the UK

  17. Let’s be honest it was meant as a cheeky insult. He knows what he is doing and he loves to wind up the public

Leave a Reply