LETTER: Marriage of Major and Blair

From Mr Simon Partridge

Sir: Your editorial about John Major's proposals to reshape the Union ("Reshaping the Union, the McMajor way", 18 November), claims that the "case for a Home Rule parliament is irresistible on moral grounds, and may become so on practical and political grounds". Yet, your assertion is difficult to square with the latest opinion poll evidence from Scotland.

A devolved parliament comes a fair way down the wish list of Scottish voters - behind employment issues and better provision for health and education. How are we to explain this paradox?

It seems likely that two separate issues are being conflated here - the politics of territory and the politics of ideology. But if we are to effectively "reshape the nation state", as you rightly call for, I believe it is essential that these two issues are properly distinguished.

The political centre of gravity of the non-south-eastern portion of Britain is essentially centre-left. It should be obvious by now that you cannot rule the UK indefinitely from a neo-liberal perspective based on a parliamentary majority - but not a majority of voters - drawn essentially from the South- east. The UK is not a nation of immigrants like the United States, and one of the results of the continued Gingrichinisation of our policy will be to disaggregate the kingdom along territorial lines.

The great irony is that what the present Tory Party is likely to achieve by its misconceived economic policy, new Labour is likely to achieve through its ill-thought-through proposals for national devolution for Scotland and Wales, since nobody has yet explained how this will not ignite the slumbering English national resentment - the infamous West Lothian question.

Is there any way of marrying McMajor's sensible proposals for constitutional reform to Mr Blair's fair-minded proposals for the economy and taxation? The alternative would seem to be a period of considerable economic and constitutional chaos. Perhaps the time is not far off for a coalition government of the sensible centre, which would include the remaining one nation Tories.

Yours faithfully,

Simon Partridge

London, N2

20 November