1707 - An Invalid Union ?
In 1707 the Union of Parliaments of Scotland and
England was forced through by bribes and under the threat of armed invasion by England.
The Treaty of Union was a commercialist document and could never be
regarded as a Scottish "constitution".
In Scotland the Treaty was never
ratified by the Scots Parliament, not having received a two-thirds majority of
those present and voting. Throughout Scotland there were major riots, and Daniel
Defoe (an English spy in Edinburgh) observed that the people were one hundred to
one against it.
Since 1707 there have been numerous breaches of this
Treaty, which lead to the conclusion that the treaty has become void
and invalid.
- Article VI, protected Scots agriculture from overseas competition. Yet
this was initially broken in 1846 with the Repeal of the Corn Laws.
- Article VII, "the same excises upon all excisable liquors". Excise duty
discriminates against Scotch whisky and favours imported wines and beer.
- Article VIII, equality for export of cured fish. However, the British Govt
sacrificed the largest part of Scots European trade, that with Russia, to
satisfy English Anti-Bolshevism (c1918).
- Article XVI, preservation of a Scottish Mint. Now abolished, with the
monopolistic position of The Bank of England having supremacy over Scots
banks.
- Article XXII, rights of Scottish Royal Burghs to remain. Abolished under
local Govt reform in the 1920s and 1970s.
- Article XVIII, taxes in England and Scotland to be the same. The Poll Tax
(1989) illegally introduced a tax on Scotland that was not applicable in
England.
- Introduction of the English Law of Treason and the removal of Jacobites to
stand trial in England.
Out of the original 25 Articles of the
Treaty, 9 have been wholly repealed by Westminster, and 5 have been materially
altered.
After the loss of her Parliament in 1707, Scotland, because of England's wars,
lost most of her trade with European countries.
Further, due to punitive taxes
and Westminster lassitude, indigenous Scots whisky, fishing, agriculture, tourism and manufacturing industries
have suffered increasingly in recent years of globalisation.
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