United Federation of Britain?

UK Devolved Nations and English Regions

The dystopia that has afflicted the UK since the 2015 general election has given us the Brexit ultimatum, a Covid-19 debacle, two unscheduled general elections and three prime ministers. It is not surprising that this has incited the devolved nations to attempt to unshackle themselves from England. The United Kingdom survives in a constitutional vacuum that has become a literal and functional anachronism.

Is it appropriate in the twenty-first century to govern through an unwritten constitution that is expressed through archaic concepts like the Kingdom and the House of Lords? Particularly when responsibility for constitutional affairs and the devolution consequences of leaving the EU is vested in the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a position presently held by Michael Gove, whose tendency to switch opinions is tidal. 

We are approaching the witching hour when we could be overtaken by events and the government seems to be clueless in converting their policy mantras into realistic solutions. The prime minister and his party have an antipathy to reforming the governance of the country that may soon be formerly known as the United Kingdom. Surely it is time to re-interpret and consolidate the democratic principles that define our systems of governance.

There have been stirrings from former Prime Ministers and other political influencers about the need for a Constitutional Convention similar to the one that helped shape the Scottish Parliament in the 1990s or to establish a Royal Commission to consider the constitution. The common presumption is that the UK should adopt some form of a federal constitution. The problem with the suggested approaches is in both the timing, they usually take several years, and the fact that any constitutional reforms need to extend well beyond Westminster, which is merely a middleman in a far more complex set of democratic networks. 

Four other levels of governance are required to be examined in any review of the constitution: international organisations; devolved nations and regions - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the regions of England*; local councils in each of the four nations; and the neighbourhood bodies that despite promises of subsidiarity have been woefully neglected and underutilised by the UK and devolved governments as well as by the councils. 

At each of these levels, the UK government needs to accept that it must share or cede power to influence or mobilise more appropriate levels of governance. The elusive search for greater sovereignty is an outmoded belief in a world where international agreements and global companies transcend the authority of individual nations. Just as important is the imperative for devolving power to regions and councils, whilst enshrining this transfer of power in a written constitution.

The prospect of developing a progressive and relevant constitution for the UK is likely to be resisted by a Westminster government that would want to control the options for all the levels of governance through the prism of Westminster. What is required is for practitioners at each level of governance to apply their understanding and expertise to make draft proposals from their perspective. These should be evaluated by engaging with the people, communities and businesses that are to be governed. There are well-tested methods for including the public through, for example, a citizen assembly in Ireland or crowdsourcing in Iceland. The trick in designing a new constitution should be that democratic principles are applied when proposing changes to democracy itself.

There should be a comprehensive re-examination of the purpose and function at each level of democracy. Instead of a top-down review, each level should be examined contemporaneously with a brief to report within a fixed timescale. This would provide a set of what will become interlocking levels of governance and allow a more considered appraisal and negotiation of how the interface between the levels can be defined with transparency and clarity. 

The most important condition for achieving a new constitution is that the proposals from each level of governance are designed without any presumption that Westminster knows best. This will ensure that our future democracy is based on parity of esteem. A future federal system of governance for the UK should seek to be both sustainable and as seamless as possible. The task of fitting the levels together and enshrining nations/regions, councils and neighbourhood bodies into the written constitution should be carried out with a commitment to subsidiarity. 

The different levels of democratic governance in a federal constitution should not replicate the present top-down governance structure and lust for pyramidal power by Westminster. This is what has blunted the UK's capacity to cope with change in the face of global, digital and social media influences. What is needed is for the different levels of a federal governance structure to nest together like a set of Russian Dolls.

The geographic entities in England of regions, councils and communities have evolved over the years and do not always equate well with the spheres of influence proscribed by labour markets, transport links, and other affiliations. The Redcliffe-Maud Commission considered this in 1969 but the Heath Government of 1970 refused to implement these proposals and instead, there has been a Spatchcock approach to the reform of Councils. Undoubtedly there is some justification for moving to a unitary system of local democracy shaped by local knowledge rather than imposed by central government.

There is an argument that if the English regions are to have devolved powers they should also have coherent boundaries that reflect regional realities. The present 8 English regions are significantly larger than the devolved nations with an average size of 6.254 million people. This compares with Scotland, 5.463 million, Wales, 3.1653 million and Northern Ireland, 1.893 million,  an average size of 3.503 million for the devolved nations.

The English standard regions would benefit from a redrawing to achieve more parity with the devolved nations. This could be achieved by splitting the largest region, the South East, into a north and south region with the north taking in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire from the present Anglia region. The south region would include Hampshire, Surrey, East and West Sussex and Kent. There is also a case for creating an additional region around Bristol by combining Bristol and Bath, North Somerset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Dorset. Cornwall, Devon and South Somerset would remain as a smaller but well-defined region. This would create a federal structure including Greater London of 14 nations/regions averaging about 5 million people. 

Meltdown in Lockdown

Last day of the Jackal

Well, that was some week in these dark days of lockdown. In the States, Joe Biden on winning the Presidency with the majority of electoral college votes said that it is "time to heal" and he promised "not to divide but to unify" the US, whilst Kamala Harris eviscerated Trump without even mentioning him. Then the joyous arrival of the Pfizer vaccine and to cap this in a week when things only got better as Dominic Cummings, the puppeteer behind Boris Johnson, left Downing Street for the last time. The oracle that brought us Brexit, levelling up and who presumably persuaded Johnson to contract out PPE and Test and Trace to the chumocracy at a jaw-dropping cost, realised his time was up. The promise of taking back control was exposed as jingoism, and his refrain that 'ministers are following the science' was finally exposed as a mantra as dishonest as his trip to Durham. 

The UK is in a mess and someone had to take the blame. The problem for Boris Johnson is that things will get worse and he will need to dispose of other hostages to fortune. His cabinet is full of well-deserved victims who were prepared to hitch their ambitions to the wonder of Boris as he zip-wired to power on the unpopularity of Theresa May and then the forlorn Jeremy Corbyn. Those look like halcyon days or Johnson as he seeks to find more emollient tones.

There is much speculation about the PM recalibrating his policies to recognise the landslide of lost respect in the devolved nations and the north of England. He will have to embrace those parts of his party less hostile to striking a trade deal with the EU. This will prompt a standoff with the European Research Group (ERG) of Conservative MPs led by the incorrigible Steve Baker and ever duplicitous Michael Gove. If the ERG manage to extract a no-deal from the constantly postponed final negotiations with the EU, they will soon become a busted flush as the true damage of Brexit becomes apparent. 

So this week has provided some light in this winter of despair as the dark days shorten in an ever-tightening lockdown. But for far too many people, it is the loss of family and friends, jobs and income, loneliness and diminished hopes that they will have to endure over Christmas that will be the abiding outcomes of 2020. 

Cairnwell

Carn Aosda summit towards Carn a' Gheoidh

Saturday, 7 November 2020

Ascent:    685 metres

Distance: 13 kilometres

Time:       3 hours 4 minutes

Carn Aosda           915m                31mins

Carn a' Gheoidh    975m       1hr   32mins 

Carn nan Sac         920m       1hr   51mins

Cairnwell               933m       2hrs 27mins

I wanted a day in the sun, not an easy fix in Scotland in November. Perusing the Met Office forecasts suggested that the Cairngorms might be the answer. The three Munros to the west of the Glenshee ski centre are the nearest with a quick ascent and a fine walk out to Carn a' Gheoidh compensating for the vandalism perpetrated on the summit of Cairnwell by the ski operators who had scarred the hill with numerous tracks, cables, telephone masts, huts and other debris. 

I left at 8:30am and after a drive through foggy roads as far as Perth, the sun appeared and the A93 to Glenshee was spectacular in its autumn colours, I made Glenshee by 10:15am. There were already 70 or so cars parked, no time was wasted before heading across the road, past the cafe and ski resort paraphernalia and up the track towards Carn Aosda. I have usually climbed these hills clockwise so that dropping back to the road from  Carn Aosda allows a climb over he four Munros to the east in the afternoon. I made good time to the summit taking the direct steep path alongside the ski tow. A couple of young construction workers from Elgin had caught me and asked for directions to the summit. I followed them on the final stretch to the cairn. Visibility was perfect, the Cairngorms, Lochnagar and dozens of other hills were etched on the skyline below the cobalt blue canopy. The summit of Carn Aosda, like the two other Munros today, is capped by sparkling quartzite and on days like this, it brightens your outlook.

There is a broad track across to the Cairnwell but above Loch Vrotachan you can cut below the track to the Cairnwell to reach Creag a' Choire Dhirich. I had caught up with the Elgin pair and we walked together to Carn a' Gheoidh. They were relatively new to hill walking, having started during the lockdown and seemed happy for me to take the lead and undercut the top, Carn nan Sac, on the way out. It is almost 5 kilometres from Carn Aosda and it had taken less than an hour. It was still before noon so I spent twenty minutes eating some lunch whilst talking to my companions and then taking photos after they left for the Cairnwell. It seemed a good way of enjoying a rare day on the hills. Another dozen walkers had arrived and everyone seemed to have the same idea, a long relaxing lunch break sitting on a Scottish summit, an unusual treat at any time of the year. 

"The sun was shining and the weather was sweet so it made me want to move" on. I diverted over the adjacent top, Carn nan Sac, on the return and then followed the fine ridge back to the Cairnwell track. There were lots of walkers about and at the summit of Cairnwell, I sat down amidst all the clutter and chunks of quartzite to finish my food and take a drink in the warm sun. A mother and her 9-year-old son arrived and we fell into conversation. She had used lockdown to get into walking and today was their first venture up a couple of Munros. She had lost 2 stone and said it had been a revelation to feel so much fitter. Her son became animated when I described some of the wildlife that he could see on the hills and even seemed intrigued at the thought of 282 Munros. I hope so, the number of walkers today and on other trips since the end of lockdown suggests that there will be a new cohort of hillwalkers inspired by the freedom and escape that the mountains have given them. I reflected back to when I started more serious hillwalking in the 1980s, it was when I refused a ticket for a Cup Final match at Hampden to go hill walking instead that I realised that I was hooked. I have been to very few football matches since then, spectating at sports events never has the appeal of participating in an activity.

I found a lesser-used path down one of the pistes and was down by 2pm, despite breaks on two of the summits. The roads were quiet on the return apart from the usual traffic delays in Perth and then back into the fog on the A9. I was home an hour and a half ahead of my expected time, again highly unusual. To cap a perfect day on the hills, as I arrived home news broke that Joe Biden had been declared President-elect. It called for a very large G&T to quench the thirst and celebrate the end of Trump,  the great malign disrupter. It has been the best news of 2020 and will relieve anxiety around the world about so many issues especially climate change, human rights and observing international agreements.

Carn Aosda

Carn a' Gheodh from Carn Aosda

Lochnagar to Carn a' Claise

Carn a'Gheoidh summit looking south-west

Glas Tulaichean and Beinn a' Ghlo

Cairnwell from Carn nan Sac

Looking north to Carn Aosda

The Cairngorms - Ben Macdui in centre

Cairnwell summit

Cairnwell clutter

Snow machines 

 

Ben A'an

Ben A'an and Loch Katrine

Ben A'an is undoubtedly one of the best viewpoints in Scotland with its pointed rock summit overlooking Loch Katrine providing a spectacular viewpoint for the Southern Highlands. It is easily accessible from the central belt and only a 350-metre climb up a steep but well-made path constructed about six years ago. It had been a regular jaunt when our children were young, although our six-month-old was probably too cold to appreciate it during her first Christmas. As the children grew up, it was one of the local hills and ideal for expending some of their energy at weekends and during holidays.

Since the new path was constructed I have not climbed the hill; its popularity, car parking charges and reports of bike thefts act as a deterrent. Aileen and I had already had three trips up Lime Craig this week as part of coping with the latest lockdown. It seemed that the time was ripe to revisit Ben A'an for the first time in several years. It was a clear autumn day and we were walking by 9:00am, there were already a dozen cars in the car park and the early walkers were coming down. 

The path is fiercely steep at the start but the dense coniferous forest has been felled and the rocks that have been carefully levered into the uncompromising slopes provide a veritable staircase from Loch Achray. It curves westwards and crosses a wooden bridge before the gradient slackens. The old path meandered through the dark canopy but it now takes a more direct route through more natural open woodland. The birch and stunted oak trees help to camouflage the worst of the felling operations. The final 150 metres of climbing is the steepest part of the climb with a rock girt path twisting its way up to a small level platform. Then just the scramble to the rocky peaky McPeak. 

Although the sun had not broken through we were transfixed by the views as we scrambled over and around the peaks. A young couple from Glasgow arrived with two dogs and gawped in wonder at the surroundings. They had moved to Glasgow from the home counties and could not believe the views, they felt privileged to be so close to the great outdoors. They asked what other nearby outings could we recommend and we gave them half a dozen other nearby hills before starting the descent. There were forty or so walkers on the ascent and the car park was full. We drove home for morning coffee with our lifetime of fond memories of family days on Ben A'an rekindled.

Start of the path from Loch Achray

Burn from the wooden bridge

Ben A'an

Autumn gold and silver birch 

Summit and Loch Katrine

Christmas 1980

Acclimatising for all that future skiing