卡梅倫承諾將賦予蘇格蘭更多權力
David Cameron will back further powers for Scotland whatever the outcome of talks on English devolution, Downing Street was forced to admit yesterday, in a move that will further anger his restless backbenchers.
英國政府昨日被迫承認，不管英格蘭分權討論的結果如何，首相戴維•卡梅倫(David Cameron)將支持賦予蘇格蘭更多權力。這一表態將進一步激怒保守黨議員。The prime minister, who hosts talks on the “English question” today with senior Tories at Chequers, riled his party by signing a vow promising new powers on tax and welfare for the Scottish parliament, and his attempt to appease them has unravelled over the weekend.
卡梅倫今日將在首相官邸與保守黨(Tories)高官就“英格蘭問題”召開會談。上週末，他簽署了一份承諾，將在稅收和福利方面賦予蘇格蘭議會新的權力，這激怒了他所在的保守黨，而卡梅倫試圖安撫本黨成員的努力也沒能見效。
The fallout from last week’s Scottish independence referendum has descended into cross-party acrimony as the focus turned to the political conference season, starting with Labour in Manchester.
上週的蘇格蘭獨立公投已導致英國三大政黨陷入彼此間的尖銳指責。人們的焦點正在轉向各黨即將召開的年度大會，其中工黨(Labour)大會將首先在曼徹斯特舉行。
The prime minister tried to reassure Tory MPs last Friday that any new powers for Holyrood would be considered “in tandem” with a new drive to give English MPs more say over English-only legislation.
卡梅倫上週五試圖安撫保守黨議員。他表示，賦予蘇格蘭議會更多權力與一個新計劃——即在英格蘭立法方面賦予英格蘭議員更多發言權——是“一致”的。Downing Street insiders reaffirmed on Sunday that Mr Cameron was committed to bringing forward proposals on English votes on English laws and was “more than happy” to hold a vote on the West Lothian question if recommended by the cabinet committee he set up last week to consider English devolution.
英國政府內部人士上週日重申，卡梅倫將致力於推動有關英格蘭人在英格蘭法律方面投票權的提案。他們還表示，如果按照內閣委員會的建議，就“西洛錫安問題”(the West Lothian question，指除英格蘭以外的地區是否有權對英格蘭事務投票——譯者注)進行投票表決，卡梅倫將“不勝喜悅”。這個委員會是卡梅倫上週設立的，任務是考慮英格蘭分權問題。At the Labour conference there was talk of “betrayal” by Mr Cameron in his attempt to mix the two issues and Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary, said the prime minister had acted “dishonourably”.
在工黨會議上，有人說卡梅倫將這兩個問題混在一起，是一種“背叛”，“影子”商務大臣丘卡•烏穆納(Chuka Umunna)表示，卡梅倫這麼做是“不光彩的”。Alex Salmond, Scotland’s first minister, who announced his intention to resign after last week’s No vote in the independence referendum, told the BBC’s Sunday Politics that the “vow” signed by the leaders of the three main Westminster parties to transfer new powers to Holyrood was “cooked up in desperation from the last days of the campaign” and was now unravelling.
蘇格蘭首席大臣亞歷克斯•薩爾蒙德(Alex Salmond)在上週公投結果出爐後宣佈計劃辭職。他週日在英國廣播公司(BBC)的Sunday Politics節目中表示，英國三個主要政黨領導人簽署的將新的權力下放給蘇格蘭議會的承諾是“虛情假意的，是獨立運動最後幾天的絕望之舉”，而現在這種承諾正在破裂。But Tory MPs are urging Mr Cameron to press ahead with his plan to give more power to English MPs by putting the idea to a vote before the election, in an attempt to put Labour on the wrong side of public opinion.
然而保守黨議員正敦促卡梅倫繼續推行其計劃，在大選前將對是否賦予英格蘭議員更多權力舉行投票。
