THE UK’s former Brexit negotiator and vocal Liz Truss supporter has described the idea of Scottish independence as “morally wrong” and called for devolution to “evolve back”.
Writing in The Telegraph, former minister Lord Frost offers a series of suggestions to prime ministerial hopeful Truss on how she can “fight back” against the SNP.
He includes a plan to make independence “impossible” to achieve, by introducing legislation demanding three-quarters of Holyrood seats are pro-independence over the span of a decade.
Other proposals include changing UK Government language to stop referring to the “four nations” and instead describe the UK as a “unitary state”, and reminding the SNP that the Scottish Government is a “subordinate entity”.
Nicola Sturgeon has warned that the comments prove “the Tories are coming for devolution”.
Lord Frost adds that the “devolution settlement is not written in stone” – suggesting that as it has evolved since 1999 “it can evolve back, too”.
The peer calls for the new prime minister to “police” boundaries between reserved and devolved matters more severely, stopping Holyrood from straying into “foreign relations or immigration”.
He points to the Scottish Government being able to make policy on which countries people could travel from during the pandemic, and opening overseas hubs to promote Scotland.
These eight international offices exist to attract investment to Scotland, help businesses expand their trade and improve research and innovation partnerships.
“If the UK Government does not police these boundaries, soon they will no longer exist,” he writes.
“A referendum should simply be impossible”
Lord Frost goes on to offer a plan to stop independence from effectively ever being achieved.
“Of course, any government would have to respect the settled will of an overwhelming majority in Scotland to govern themselves,” he says. “But those terms have to be defined. I would suggest 75%b of seats in the Scottish Parliament in favour of independence, over a 10-year period, legally binding. Without that, a referendum should simply be impossible.”
Boris Johnson’s former Brexit minister also has a message for people in England who argue in favour of letting Scotland go if it so desires.
“Partly because the break-up of the country would be a massive national humiliation,” he claims.
“In Europe and beyond, it would be seen as a comeuppance which they would exploit to the full. But, more importantly, because it is morally wrong.”
Lord Frost suggests this is because pro-Union Scots would be “abandoned” if an independence vote were to be successful.
“Make no mistake, the Tories are coming for devolution,” Sturgeon tweeted in response to the article.
“If we don’t decide to entrench @scotparl through independence, it’s powers will be eroded – forced, according to this by one of the architects of the Brexit disaster, to ‘evolve back’.”
Meanwhile, Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer told The National that “the last thing” people in Scotland want to hear is unelected Conservative Lord “lecturing them about morality and accountability”.
“This man was a senior minister in a cruel and incompetent government that Scotland rejected and which has inflicted a cost-of-living emergency,” he said.
“He has since made a minor name for himself by campaigning against the Brexit deal he personally negotiated, which says a lot about his competence and abilities. Frost may have said the quiet part out loud, but, watching Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak doubling down on their contempt for Holyrood, it is clear that his Tory colleagues have the same disdain for our democracy as he does.”
“One of the many benefits of Scottish independence is that we will finally be able to take our future into our own hands and follow a different path, rather than constantly being talked down to by life peers we didn’t choose and can’t get rid of.”
While Frost’s message on independence and devolution goes further than the Tory candidates have expressed publicly, it comes after Truss suggested that Scotland’s democratically elected First Minister should be “ignored”.
It is not the first time Lord Frost has called for devolution to be rolled back – in February, he suggested that Covid demonstrated the “nonsense” of the four nations having different rules and called on Johnson to “unite” the UK to save his job.
Surely the best way of winning independence wanting Scots over is not force them to have to deal with the Tories on every issue? Also “morally” wrong, if the Tories cared about morals they’d have ceased to be a party a long fucking time ago.
So a 75% pro independence government for 10 years + just to get the chance of a referendum but a 52% majority after a short campaign of lies, cheating and fearmongering was enough for Brexit!
Yeah that sounds about right for Westminster
Utter bellend.
“How do we stop people feeling independence would be better for them ? Should we improve their lives ? Listen to their arguments ? Nah make it practically impossible remind them that they are subordinate to us and change language so that everytime it’s brought it we can point and say UNITY ABOVE ALL”
Fucking lord eh shite.
Lord Frost looks pretty chubby.
Let’s eat him first.
Probably not palatable, look at that skin.
But it’s one more enemy of the people removed, and some useful people fed for a few days.
This would be a net positive result greater than anything he’s achieved in his career.
Come to dinner Lord Frost.
Says a man who was in charge of making the UK independent of the EU.
Whilst I don’t agree that they should have another vote in so soon after the last one, I’d give them this ndependence vote, but on the basis that there not be another for a very specific period of time (25 years or such) regardless of Scottish government voting.
However the Tories don’t really care, because they aren’t going to win many seats up north. Better to look the strongman and just say no since there’s nothing the SNP can legally do about it as it stands.
edit: guess i upset people.
Lord Frost isn’t a serious player in UK politics so honestly just disregard this. As others has said these naïve and pretty patronising comments are just forcing Scotland away.
So as an Englishman who fully expects a Scottish referendum in his lifetime, please do not leave for the sake of this delirious potato.
Intellectually feeble.
So we should be returning power to Brussels then?
mOrAlLy WrOnG. Like a Tory’d know their elbow from their arsecheek when it comes to morality.
Gammon faced muppet
England stopped caring a decade ago. Give Scotland back. We really don’t care. Free university in Scotland is a joke. Whilst the rest of us pay back tutition fees for decades. Give it back and leave them to it. It’s what they want.
I think devolution was a mistake, especially if we are supposed to be one country. I don’t see how anyone can look at it and think that the end result would be anything other than a wedge driven between the component nations.
I think it would be much better however, if more responsibilities/powers were given to local government.
As an example, the way I would describe it is that the top level of government should aim to prevent homelessness in a broad manner that protects as many people as they can without being overly restrictive to the vast majority. Those who fall through the gaps should then be picked up more locally where local government has more leeway in how to deal with the issue in a way that is tailored to the area they know.
It would also, I think, reduce the complaints of not feeling represented by whatever government if you can elect local leaders that better reflect a more limited geographic area and who have more control.
I realise that this approach could have other negative side effects but on balance I think it would be less damaging and more empowering for local areas than devolution.
Full federal UK is the only way to sort all this England wants and needs its own parliament The Tories have no support in Scotland or northern Ireland keep the Exchequer and reform the lord’s to act as a UK house of representatives with built in coalition of all four nations and veto powers at certain levels.
I guess words just don’t have meaning any more.
*Morally* wrong? Do you know what immorality is, Frost? Being a Tory.
God, I’ve already maxed out my brain’s capacity for reading Tory stupidity on this sub today and it’s not even 7am
How to alienate a colonised people in one speech. Well done Lord Frost, having already brought Irish reunification forward by several decades, he has now done the same for Scottish and Welsh independence. I am speechless with admiration.
You attract more flies with honey than vinegar.
Sure you could make it illegal to succeed, a lot of places have. Or, and hear me out; you make the country somewhere people don’t want to leave so much they’d risk economic meltdown?
19 comments
THE UK’s former Brexit negotiator and vocal Liz Truss supporter has described the idea of Scottish independence as “morally wrong” and called for devolution to “evolve back”.
Writing in The Telegraph, former minister Lord Frost offers a series of suggestions to prime ministerial hopeful Truss on how she can “fight back” against the SNP.
He includes a plan to make independence “impossible” to achieve, by introducing legislation demanding three-quarters of Holyrood seats are pro-independence over the span of a decade.
Other proposals include changing UK Government language to stop referring to the “four nations” and instead describe the UK as a “unitary state”, and reminding the SNP that the Scottish Government is a “subordinate entity”.
Nicola Sturgeon has warned that the comments prove “the Tories are coming for devolution”.
Lord Frost adds that the “devolution settlement is not written in stone” – suggesting that as it has evolved since 1999 “it can evolve back, too”.
The peer calls for the new prime minister to “police” boundaries between reserved and devolved matters more severely, stopping Holyrood from straying into “foreign relations or immigration”.
He points to the Scottish Government being able to make policy on which countries people could travel from during the pandemic, and opening overseas hubs to promote Scotland.
These eight international offices exist to attract investment to Scotland, help businesses expand their trade and improve research and innovation partnerships.
“If the UK Government does not police these boundaries, soon they will no longer exist,” he writes.
“A referendum should simply be impossible”
Lord Frost goes on to offer a plan to stop independence from effectively ever being achieved.
“Of course, any government would have to respect the settled will of an overwhelming majority in Scotland to govern themselves,” he says. “But those terms have to be defined. I would suggest 75%b of seats in the Scottish Parliament in favour of independence, over a 10-year period, legally binding. Without that, a referendum should simply be impossible.”
Boris Johnson’s former Brexit minister also has a message for people in England who argue in favour of letting Scotland go if it so desires.
“Partly because the break-up of the country would be a massive national humiliation,” he claims.
“In Europe and beyond, it would be seen as a comeuppance which they would exploit to the full. But, more importantly, because it is morally wrong.”
Lord Frost suggests this is because pro-Union Scots would be “abandoned” if an independence vote were to be successful.
“Make no mistake, the Tories are coming for devolution,” Sturgeon tweeted in response to the article.
“If we don’t decide to entrench @scotparl through independence, it’s powers will be eroded – forced, according to this by one of the architects of the Brexit disaster, to ‘evolve back’.”
Meanwhile, Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer told The National that “the last thing” people in Scotland want to hear is unelected Conservative Lord “lecturing them about morality and accountability”.
“This man was a senior minister in a cruel and incompetent government that Scotland rejected and which has inflicted a cost-of-living emergency,” he said.
“He has since made a minor name for himself by campaigning against the Brexit deal he personally negotiated, which says a lot about his competence and abilities. Frost may have said the quiet part out loud, but, watching Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak doubling down on their contempt for Holyrood, it is clear that his Tory colleagues have the same disdain for our democracy as he does.”
“One of the many benefits of Scottish independence is that we will finally be able to take our future into our own hands and follow a different path, rather than constantly being talked down to by life peers we didn’t choose and can’t get rid of.”
While Frost’s message on independence and devolution goes further than the Tory candidates have expressed publicly, it comes after Truss suggested that Scotland’s democratically elected First Minister should be “ignored”.
It is not the first time Lord Frost has called for devolution to be rolled back – in February, he suggested that Covid demonstrated the “nonsense” of the four nations having different rules and called on Johnson to “unite” the UK to save his job.
Surely the best way of winning independence wanting Scots over is not force them to have to deal with the Tories on every issue? Also “morally” wrong, if the Tories cared about morals they’d have ceased to be a party a long fucking time ago.
So a 75% pro independence government for 10 years + just to get the chance of a referendum but a 52% majority after a short campaign of lies, cheating and fearmongering was enough for Brexit!
Yeah that sounds about right for Westminster
Utter bellend.
“How do we stop people feeling independence would be better for them ? Should we improve their lives ? Listen to their arguments ? Nah make it practically impossible remind them that they are subordinate to us and change language so that everytime it’s brought it we can point and say UNITY ABOVE ALL”
Fucking lord eh shite.
Lord Frost looks pretty chubby.
Let’s eat him first.
Probably not palatable, look at that skin.
But it’s one more enemy of the people removed, and some useful people fed for a few days.
This would be a net positive result greater than anything he’s achieved in his career.
Come to dinner Lord Frost.
Says a man who was in charge of making the UK independent of the EU.
Whilst I don’t agree that they should have another vote in so soon after the last one, I’d give them this ndependence vote, but on the basis that there not be another for a very specific period of time (25 years or such) regardless of Scottish government voting.
However the Tories don’t really care, because they aren’t going to win many seats up north. Better to look the strongman and just say no since there’s nothing the SNP can legally do about it as it stands.
edit: guess i upset people.
Lord Frost isn’t a serious player in UK politics so honestly just disregard this. As others has said these naïve and pretty patronising comments are just forcing Scotland away.
So as an Englishman who fully expects a Scottish referendum in his lifetime, please do not leave for the sake of this delirious potato.
Intellectually feeble.
So we should be returning power to Brussels then?
mOrAlLy WrOnG. Like a Tory’d know their elbow from their arsecheek when it comes to morality.
Gammon faced muppet
England stopped caring a decade ago. Give Scotland back. We really don’t care. Free university in Scotland is a joke. Whilst the rest of us pay back tutition fees for decades. Give it back and leave them to it. It’s what they want.
I think devolution was a mistake, especially if we are supposed to be one country. I don’t see how anyone can look at it and think that the end result would be anything other than a wedge driven between the component nations.
I think it would be much better however, if more responsibilities/powers were given to local government.
As an example, the way I would describe it is that the top level of government should aim to prevent homelessness in a broad manner that protects as many people as they can without being overly restrictive to the vast majority. Those who fall through the gaps should then be picked up more locally where local government has more leeway in how to deal with the issue in a way that is tailored to the area they know.
It would also, I think, reduce the complaints of not feeling represented by whatever government if you can elect local leaders that better reflect a more limited geographic area and who have more control.
I realise that this approach could have other negative side effects but on balance I think it would be less damaging and more empowering for local areas than devolution.
Full federal UK is the only way to sort all this England wants and needs its own parliament The Tories have no support in Scotland or northern Ireland keep the Exchequer and reform the lord’s to act as a UK house of representatives with built in coalition of all four nations and veto powers at certain levels.
I guess words just don’t have meaning any more.
*Morally* wrong? Do you know what immorality is, Frost? Being a Tory.
God, I’ve already maxed out my brain’s capacity for reading Tory stupidity on this sub today and it’s not even 7am
How to alienate a colonised people in one speech. Well done Lord Frost, having already brought Irish reunification forward by several decades, he has now done the same for Scottish and Welsh independence. I am speechless with admiration.
You attract more flies with honey than vinegar.
Sure you could make it illegal to succeed, a lot of places have. Or, and hear me out; you make the country somewhere people don’t want to leave so much they’d risk economic meltdown?