CEP: Gordon Brown ready to sacrifice HBOS jobs in England to carry out his 1989 pledge to Scotland

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Monday, 22, Sep 2008 12:00

'The real face of Gordon Brown has at last been exposed. As the financial crisis bites deeper and deeper and jobs are threatened in their thousands both in Scotland and England by the imminent Lloyds takeover of HBOS, his declared support for Britain has been shown to be very second place indeed. What really matters to Brown is not Britain but just one part of it. What matters to him is Scotland first and foremost. And if ever there has been a reason for England to have its own parliament which will defend its people, it is now.' That was the warning and the call issued to Campaign for an English Parliament members in Shropshire by Stuart Parr, member of the CEP National Council.

'The UK Prime Minister Mr Gordon Brown MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath in Fifeshire is now carrying out the pledge he made on March 31sat 1989 when he signed the 'Scottish Claim of Right' drawn up by the Scottish Constitutional Convention together with 132 other Scottish MPs and MEPs including Michael Martin the Speaker of the House of Commons.'That Claim of Right read as follows: "We, gathered as the Scottish Constitutional Convention, do hereby acknowledge the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of Government best suited to their needs, and do hereby declare and pledge that in all our actions and deliberations their interests will be paramount".

'Gordon Brown has been the engine driving the Lloyds takover of HBOS'' stated Mr Parr. 'No one can blame him for that. However, what the Times online has reported today is that page one of the formal takeover document promises that "the management focus is to keep jobs in Scotland; and there is no such reassurance about England". Not even about Halifax itself, the birthplace of the Halifax Building Society which employs thousands of English men and women. 'How little Brown cares for England! How else can anyone possibly explain that clause in the takeover document?' asked Mr Parr. 'And how unacceptable it is coming from the UK Prime Minister. The interests of just one of the nations that make up the UK should not be paramount to him, should not come first and foremost. Not even to a UK Prime Minister whose future will be decided by the bye-election soon to be held in the Glenrothes constituency next door to his own. Such narrow politiking should not enter into a takeover document of the immense UK-wide importance of the Lloyds-HBOS merger.

'Clearly England now needs its own Parliament, its own Government and its own First Minister to defend the legitimate interests of its people and restore balance to the Union. England simply cannot trust the UK Government as it stands..Britain is failing England'.

Contacts:

Mr Stuart Parr. CEP National Council member. Tel: 07973296118

Mrs Scilla Cullen. CEP Chairman Tel: 01438 833155