Will Bonny Donny also break away? Ed Miliband's constituency Doncaster 'may actually be owned by Scotland', experts warn Labour
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Version 0 of 1. As if Ed Miliband didn’t have enough headaches as a result of the today’s historic referendum, it now turns out that his own constituency may belong to Scotland. According to a local historian a 12th century Treaty giving Doncaster to the Scots as the price of calling off their invasion of England has never been revoked. As the Labour leader grapples with the prospect of losing a potential parliamentary majority if Scotland votes yes, he is now threatened with the seizure by a freshly separated Scotland of “Bonny Donny” –a term which local media are inevitably using with evident enjoyment. Well not quite, actually. But delighted to find a local angle on the Scottish referendum, the Yorkshire Post has told its readers that Doncaster was casually handed over to the Scots as part of the Treaty of Durham under Scotland’s King David, who had stormed large parts of Northern England, withdrew his troops. It remained in Scottish hands for 21 years until Henry II appeared to reclaim the town under English rule in 1157 - but it was never formally given back, according to the YP Local historian Dr Charles Kelham told the paper: : “David had invaded England in support of his niece, the Empress Matilda, the widow of a Roman Emperor whose claim to the throne of England seemed to have rather more justification than Stephen’s. “Stephen bought David off at the meeting in Durham by offering him a selection of additional estates, one of which was the manor and soke of Doncaster. It was a sweetener, effectively. “He had the terms of the arrangement amended such that these additional estates were to be given by Stephen to his son and heir, Henry, prince of Scotland.” “The arrangement did not last long, but it is right it appears that there was never any official giving back,” added Dr Kelham. Luckily Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond is likely to have enough problems—economic and political—to deal with if he wins today’s vote without taking on those of an English town. And anyway Ed Miliband is not the only party leader to have something to worry about. Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP, which has a strongly English nationalist streak, has chosen Doncaster as the venue for his national conference next week . |