LABOUR peer George Foulkes's claim the UK is not a "Union of equals" and was never meant to be is at odds with what former Labour prime minister Tony Blair said when the Scottish Parliament was formed, a handwritten message has revealed.
A copy of the Scotland Act 1998 – signed by Blair and sent to Donald Dewar – is on display in the main hall at Holyrood as part of a welcome exhibition on how the Parliament was formed.
Along with Blair's signature, there is a handwritten message from him to then first minister Dewar stating: "It was a struggle; it may always be hard; but it was worth it. Scotland and England together on equal terms!"
This would appear to contradict what Foulkes, a former MSP and MP, told the BBC on Wednesday morning.
He claimed the idea of an equal Union was nothing more than a “myth that has been put around by the SNP”.
The comments were made during an interview with Good Morning Scotland, where Foulkes was appearing to talk about the possibility of the UK Government outlining “sanctions” that could be imposed on devolved administrations for working in reserved areas.
Blair invoked devolution for precisely the reason Foulkes has pointed out, because he believed too much power was concentrated in the hands of English MPs at Westminster, despite also admitting devolution was a "dangerous game to play" as he felt it may give rise to nationalist sentiment.
Foulkes added: "We each have our own responsibilities but they’re different. To call them equal is not the right word, they’re different. They have different responsibilities.”
