The House of Stuart

There is an ill-informed article in the Telegraph that Gordon Brown plans to repeal the Act of Settlement (1701) to remove the bar from Catholics becoming monarch. It is a surprise that the Prime Minister is more Jacobite than Jacobin, but the complexities of the Constitution render appeal an unattractive option without disestablishing the Church of England.

The Telegraph dredges up the Duke of Bavaria, but there is no chance that he will ascend the throne. What does concern me is a pool of Scottish radicals wrecking the English constitution and taking measures that will not affect their own country.

When the Labour government ends, they will have 'modernised' the constitution, reduced the liberties of the general population and outsourced our law-making powers to Brussels.

The Act has recently come under attack from Church leaders and MPs, in particular Scottish MPs, as an unjustifiable discrimination.

In the face of this new pressure, the Prime Minister indicated he would consider abolishing the legislation as it was "antiquated" and discriminatory.

The legislation is discriminatory and need no longer be so. It is not irrelevant to the modern age, encompassing the basis of our sovereignty and our parliamentary powers. It was the Act of Settlement upon which the powers of the English parliament and crown were settled, leading to the glorious evolution that led us to our current impasse.

Brown has botched constitutional reform, and should take no further steps. His role on the political stage is coming to an end. Does he really have to cause further damage?