Sunday, January 15, 2006
National Day
Brown speech provokes interest
Chancellor Gordon Brown in a keynote speech to the Fabian Society has proposed that we celebrate a "National Day" to promote unity and for all Britons to show pride in the Union Jack, in an effort to wrest this symbol of our nation away from the far right of the political spectrum.
It is certainly not an idea to be rejected out of hand and has many merits, the only difficulty appears to be in agreeing an appropriate and suitable date which has some significance to being "British". Members of the Curly's Corner Shop Message Board have been debating the issue all weekend, with ideas connected to the date of the signing of The Act of Union, and the signing of The Magna Carta being proposed, amongst others.
The Acts of Union, were twin Acts of Parliament passed in 1707 (taking effect on 26 March) by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The acts were the implementation of the Treaty of Union, negotiated between the two kingdoms. The effect of the Acts was twofold:
* to create a new state: the Kingdom of Great Britain, although the name had been used on occasion since 1603 when speaking of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland together, which had shared a monarch from that date but retained sovereign parliaments. Wales was also part of this Great Britain since it had been absorbed by England by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542.
to dissolve both parliaments and replace them with a new Parliament of Great Britain (this event is known as the Union of the Parliaments). The new parliament was to be based in the former home of the English Parliament.
There was also a later Act of Union which brought Ireland into the British Isles;
The Act of Union 1800 merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain (itself a merger of England and Scotland under the Act of Union 1707) to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801.
The Act was passed by both the British and Irish parliaments. The Irish parliament had been given a large measure of independence by the Constitution of 1782, after centuries of being subordinated to the English (and later, British) Parliament. Thus, many members had guarded its autonomy jealously, including Henry Grattan, and had rejected a previous motion for Union in 1799. However, a concerted campaign by the British government, and the uncertainty that followed the Irish Rebellion of 1798, made Union a more palatable prospect. The final passage of the Act in the Irish Parliament was achieved with substantial majorities, and was marked by mass bribery of Irish MPs by the British government, including the granting of titles and lands.
Under the terms of the union, Ireland had over 100 MPs representing it in the united parliament, meeting in the Palace of Westminster (more than would be proportionate according to population). Part of the attraction of the Union for many Irish Catholics was the promise of Catholic Emancipation, thereby allowing Roman Catholic MPs (which had not been allowed in the Irish Parliament). However this was blocked by King George III who argued that emancipating Roman Catholics would breach his Coronation Oath; it was delayed until 1829.
The flag created by the merger of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801 still remains the flag of the United Kingdom. Known as the "Union Flag" (or Union Jack), it combines the flags of England and Scotland with St Patrick's Cross, representing Ireland.
Gordon Brown's Speech
Curly's Corner Shop Message Board
The Act of Union
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