From the archives: Scottish affairs

Mr Cyril Osborne, Conservative MP for Louth, complained in the House of Commons yesterday that too much time was taken up with Scottish questions. Apparently those pestiferous Scottish members had 44 questions on the Order Paper and a mere Englishman could hardly get a word in edgeways. Have not the Scots a whole day to themselves on Thursday? Mr Osborne sought the Speaker’s aid on behalf of English members, but the Speaker told him nothing could be done. Every Minister’s turn comes round in due course. Yesterday the Scottish Secretary came first. On another day he comes last. The interest of Mr Osborne’s protest lies not in the fact that it was ill-founded, but that it should have been made at all. Mr Osborne might prefer that Scottish affairs be sunk in the general mass of UK business, but that is not how the Union functions. Otherwise there would not be any Secretary of State for Scotland.

• archive.scotsman.com