Rise up, Englishmen
Liam Byrne says the English must be less apathetic about the United Kingdom, and about the threat of Scottish independence that looms in next week’s elections
As another celebration of our patron saint passes and the Scottish elections loom, now is the time to hear a few more English patriots raising a glass not just to England but to our United Kingdom.
It feels a little odd at times that we do not hear more English voices speak out against the error of Scottish independence. We know the Union is hugely important to Scotland. Two and a half million Scots have relatives in England; hundreds of thousands work south of the border and the ‘Union dividend’ is worth some £10 billion.
But the Union is of fundamental importance to England too, not just economically but for English society. There is perhaps no better illustration of our economic ties than the UK’s huge financial services powerhouse. The UK has rapidly consolidated its global leadership of the industry in the last decade. But £8 billion pounds of the business is based in Scotland, 90 per cent of which is linked to the rest of the UK.
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Marcus Perry
February 10th, 2008 2:54pmBull, I have a thousand years of British ancestry and my wife does too. She was born in South Africa but maintained a British identity. My family is British but Liam Byrne insists on her removal from Britain in spite of our 24 year marriage and here he mouths off about how important being British is. My advice to the Highlanders-run to the Hills and put as much distance between yourselves and the English Government. They are anti-family and anti British.