Sunday Herald

THE monarchy should be abolished and all parts of Britain should declare themselves republics in order to become true democracies.

The call from leading writer and artist Alasdair Gray makes the controversial case for republicanism in a new political pamphlet called How We Should Rule Ourselves due to be published by Edinburgh-based Canongate in advance of this year’s general election.

The document, which has been co-written with Adam Tomkins, Professor of Public Law at the University of Glasgow, argues that the nations of the United Kingdom can only become truly democratic by axing the Queen and restoring power to the people through properly elected parliaments that are not answerable to the Crown.

The pamphlet is set to reignite the monarchy debate especially as some states, including Australia, are reconsidering their membership of the commonwealth following revelations that after the forthcoming royal wedding Camilla Parker Bowles will technically become Queen upon Prince Charles’s succession.

Gray told the Sunday Herald: “The notion of having government by a royal family is ludicrous. The royal family are the least free human beings in Britain. It’s practically impossible for them to act sanely.”

Although Gray has written pamphlets before, in 1992 and 1997 on the theme of Scottish independence, this is his first overtly republican tract.

He was inspired to write it after hearing Tomkins speak at a demonstration on Calton Hill organised by the Scottish Socialist Party in protest at the Queen’s opening of the new Scottish parliament in October 2004.

Gray e-mailed the academic two weeks after the event and they decided to get together to collaborate on this work. Tomkins, an Englishman living in Scotland, is a committed republican. He published a book earlier this year called Our Republican Constitution...

Like Tomkins, Gray is not part of any political party, although he has supported the Scottish Nationalist Party in the past. He now plans to vote for the Scottish Socialist Party, who share his republican views.