December 20 1923
The Tory Government will find themselves defeated during the debate on the Address when the British Parliament reassembles, and defeat will compel their resignation.
Whereupon Mr Ramsay MacDonald, a Scot of the Scots, will be asked – is commanded the proper word in this connection? – to form a Ministry by the King.
Mr MacDonald will consent: so much is assured. He will not become Prime Minister to resign almost immediately – as Mr [Herbert Henry] Asquith suggested rather than anticipated. “That certainly is not our idea of Labour’s intentions,” wrote the official organ of the party yesterday. The Scotsman will hold fast to office and produce measures of legislation.
What will the members of the Scottish Home Rule Association say and do when their compatriot takes command at Downing Street?
The Association put forward its claim during the progress of the General Election. It pointed out that year after year a large majority of the Scottish people, through their parliamentary representatives, “have affirmed their conviction that the affairs of Scotland ought to be controlled by a national parliament sitting in Scotland and acting through a Scottish Executive”. That demand was not insistently pressed, “partly because of a feeling that the granting of Irish Home Rule was even more urgently necessary”. But –
“Ireland has now obtained a Home Rule Constitution of a thorough and far-reaching nature, so that the last extraneous obstacle to Scottish self-government has disappeared. Not only that, but the need for a corresponding change in the government of Scotland has been rendered more urgent than ever. The Irish Settlement entirely upsets the balance between the representatives of England (the predominant partner) and those of the other partners in the United Kingdom Parliament. Without ascribing wilful unfairness to the 492 English members, it is obvious that the absence of the 92 Irish members will place the 74 Scottish and the 36 Welsh members at a greater disadvantage than ever…”
The statement of the Scottish case by the Home Rule Association was followed by an imperative demand: “Now is the time for the Scottish electors to make sure that their representatives take up this question in earnest and put forward Scottish Home Rule as the first practical step in Scottish politics. What other question should precede it?... Unemployment? What hope is there to have this evil removed by action at Westminster? Social Reform? Land Reform? Housing? Where is the prospect that any of these will be effectively dealt with if we do not first have Self-Government?”
Mr Ramsay MacDonald – be it repeated – is as Scottish as the storied “Isles” or blood-bedewed Glencoe. When he becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain why should he hesitate if he is asked by his compatriots to introduce and pass a measure establishing a free Scottish Parliament?
With the prospect of Scot Ramsay MacDonald becoming Prime Minister of the UK, hopes grew, misplaced as it transpired, that he would support measures granting Scotland a form of home rule.