| ■ International 'No' doubt? 「不」質疑? Scotland's leader: people to vote 'no' in referendum 蘇格蘭領袖:人民在公投中投下否決票 |
The debate over Scotland's future fizzled amid a bitter war of words on Sept. 21, with the Scottish leader claiming his countrymen were "tricked" into rejecting independence in a referendum and Britain's three main political parties bickering over how to take political reform forward. | 有關蘇格蘭未來何去何從的爭論,於九月廿一日的激烈口水戰中平息,蘇格蘭領袖聲稱,他的同胞被「騙」在公投中投下反對獨立票,而英國三大主要政黨則為了政治改革 要如何進行而爭執不休。 |
Alex Salmond, Scotland's outgoing independence leader, accused politicians in London of reneging on their promises to hand more power to Scots in a rare cross-party pact that he said played a crucial role in swinging the votes in favor of union in Thursday's vote. | 即將卸任的蘇格蘭獨派領袖艾利克斯薩孟德指控倫敦政壇人士,在承諾將更多權力移交給蘇格蘭一事上食言,他表示,這項罕見的跨黨派協議在週四公投轉向統派上,扮演了重要角色。 |
His comments came after Prime Minister David Cameron stressed that plans to empower Scots should be linked to constitutional reform in England — a stance that fractured the fragile political consensus and drew attacks from across the spectrum. Just days earlier, Cameron and his political rivals had joined together in a vow to quickly pass laws to transfer key decision-making powers from London to Scotland's capital, Edinburgh. All three party leaders signed off on the pledge, which promised Scots new powers to decide on their tax, budget and welfare policies. | 在他發表這番言論之前,英國首相大衛卡麥隆強調,賦予蘇格蘭人權力的計畫應該和英格蘭憲政改革有關,而這個立場導致脆弱的政治共識破裂,並引起了政壇各界的撻伐。日前,卡麥隆及其政治對手攜手誓言要迅速通過法案,將倫敦當局擁有的關鍵決策權轉交給蘇格蘭的愛丁堡政府。三個政黨的領袖都同意了這項承諾賦予蘇格蘭人自行決定稅收、預算與福利政策等新權力的共識。 |
Since then, Cameron said those changes must be made "in tandem" with reform in the House of Commons to bar Scottish lawmakers from having a say on bills that only apply to England and Wales — a longstanding grievance that has come to the fore amid the debate. | 自此以後,卡麥隆表示,這些改革必須與下議院的改革「先後」進行,以禁止蘇格蘭議員在適用於英格蘭與威爾斯的法案上,擁有發言權,而這種長期存在不滿在這項爭議中浮上了檯面。 |
He also said it won't be fair to devolve powers to Scotland without considering similar changes in the rest of the kingdom — England, Wales and Northern Ireland. "Millions of people in the rest of the UK have been listening to these debates, watching this campaign and rightly asking: 'What will change for us? Why can't we have the same powers and the same rights as those in Scotland?'" Cameron wrote in the Mail on Sunday newspaper. | 卡麥隆還表示,在沒有考慮到英格蘭、威爾斯與北愛爾蘭等大不列顛聯合王國其他地區類似改革的情況下,就把權力移交給蘇格蘭並不公平。他在週日《每日郵報》的文章中寫道:「英國其他地區的數百萬人一直在聽這些爭論,看著公投的進行,並名正言順地問道:『我們有什麼會改變?我們為什麼不能和蘇格蘭享有一樣的權力與權利?』」 |
Critics say that throwing all those questions into one basket dilutes the three leaders' joint pledge, and will inevitably delay the timetable of the promised return of powers to Scotland. | 論者指出,將那些疑問一股腦地丟入同一個籃子裡,削弱了三位領袖的誓言,並不可避免地延遲把權力歸還蘇格蘭的時間表。 |
"It's the people who voted No because they believed these commitments from the Westminster leadership — these are the people who are feeling most angry, most hurt, most disappointed in Scotland today," Salmond told the BBC. The politician has said he will step down as Scotland's first minister in November, after the failure of his pro-independence campaign. | 薩孟德向英國廣播公司表示:「是人民投下了反對票,因為他們相信西敏寺領導階層的諾言,而這些人是蘇格蘭今天感到最憤怒、最受傷且最失望的人。」在他支持獨立的行動失敗後,這位政界人士去年十一月表示,他會辭去蘇格蘭第一部長的職務。 |
All three British parties insisted they would fulfill their vow, though they clearly differed on the English reform question. | 英國三大政黨都堅持會兌現承諾,不過他們在英格蘭改革的問題方面明顯出現了歧見。 |
沒有留言:
張貼留言