It's not often that I spend my Sunday lunchtime with colleagues from the SNP, but this Sunday the smiles weren't anything to do with the quality of the food or the conversation. It was all down to the interview the Prime Minister had given to the BBC earlier on Sunday morning.
It seems the UK government has blinked.
The mistake is not to offer the Scottish Parliament the power to hold an independence referendum (not that we need it). On its own that would have been seen as a constructive suggestion designed to protect the poll from mischievous intervention in the courts by those with the determination (and deep enough pockets) to try to stop the people from having their say. It would have shown respect for the mandate given by the people of Scotland to the SNP in May.
But what is a mistake, and a monumental one, is to try and attach conditions.
A party with just one MP in Scotland, that has been rejected time after time by Scottish voters, thinks it knows best. And thinks it can tell the Scottish Parliament what to do on timing, on wording and even on the choice that will be offered to the people. No wonder thoughtful Unionists, like Malcolm Chisholm think it is madness.
It is clear that the Tory Party doesn't understand Scotland. Their Westminster MPs don't really care about what happens up here. But one thing they do understand, to the point of obsession, is Europe. So let me explain, in language they will understand, just what they are about to do. And I don't do it to try and make them change their mind, but because the die is now cast: they have chosen their course.
Just a few months ago Tory backbenchers proposed a multi-option referendum on the UK's relationship with the EU. The referendum would ask people whether they wanted the status quo, a return of some powers from Europe or withdrawal from the EU. Can you imagine the furore if the EU Commission had intervened and said you can hold your referendum but only if it is a single question, with certain wording and within a time-frame that we, the EU, will decide? Such an action by the EU would have added millions to the 'UK independence' vote.
And as with Europe, so with Scotland. This is a decision for people living in Scotland: the sovereign people who have the right to determine the form of government best suited to their needs. We entered the Union as an equal partner and we have the right to decide our future in that Union: whether we want some of the powers we gave before repatriated (as some may press for) or whether we want a completely new relationship as equal, independent nations. The Tory government in London is entitled to make the anti-independence case, but they have no right to try to hijack the referendum.
Today, we've seen a spike in hits on the SNP website and numerous telephone calls to the office. Thank you Mr Cameron! I can hardly have imagined a better start to the New Year for those of us who believe in an independent Scotland.
The Tory government is showing no respect for the voters, the parliament or the government of Scotland. They think they can treat us as though we were their Eton fag. They act towards Scotland in a way they would not accept for themselves. They just don't get it.
Good comparison of the UK/EU multi-option referendum with the Scotland referendum.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to say I'm astonished that Cameron would be so cavalier...but, you know...if the Coalition can't grasp what's going on in most of England, they've got very little chance of understanding Scottish politics.
Yes but this plan has been fairly long in its preperation and has involved discussions with the Canadian Federal government, as well as lobbying of Labour and LibDEm MPs yo get them on side since at least November, so expect more layers of subterfuge from Cameron. He may well turn round and say he's listened and he's dropping the conditions just as long as the SNP accept a straight Independence YES/NO question.
ReplyDeleteHe thinks he will win whatever happens. If the SNP say no he hopes to use this to portray them as unreasonable extremists, unlike the other political parties who are all prepared to compromise for the sake of ensuring Scots get a fair referendum. If the SNP says yes he feels he's seized the initiative and forced the SNP into a stark choice for the electorate which he hopes to exploit using the same dirty tactics he used in the PR referendum, smear tactics and scare stories in the press about pensions, jobs,benefits. He probably plans to work on geting some destabalising event like covertly getting the RBS or somebody to announce they will relocate from Scotland if the vote is for independence, etc, etc
Severin Carrell’s article in the Guardian today suggests that the UK government will if necessary drop all of their conditions in order to get the SNP to accept their preferred referendum format of a legally watertight referendum question with a straight choice. Their main objective is to try to isolate Independence from more powers and argue that Independence is opposed to devolution and this will be the main line of their rhetoric. I still think the Scottish Government should resist this. It’s in the SNPs interests to keep the situation fluid. The negative reaction to Cameron’s interventions shows the potential in keeping things fluid and is one of the reasons the unionist parties having all signed up to this. They want the SNP to accept so that things are closed down. Regardless of all other considerations Scotland is not quite at the point of voting for Independence we need more time and more developments before that will be the case.
ReplyDeleteI assume that David Cameron doesn't care if Scots are outraged. The unionist parties simply do not want a devo-max choice on the ballot with a YES/YES campaign, and will do all they can to prevent that.
ReplyDeleteThe danger with excluding Devo Max, is that it allows labour to run at the next election promising further devolution, claiming they are the only ones who can grant it.
Then if elected, it would be watered down into nothing and we would be back to square one.
Even if the Scottish Government cannot unilaterally deliver FFA, it sets out a clear demand that would be hard to ignore if the independence vote was narrowly lost.
On a side-note, I hope the SNP use some of the lottery cash to rent a few of the best billboard sites before revealing the exact date.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine some serious cash on the union side trying to monopolize the ad-space.
Was disappointed to read an article in today's Sunday Herald saying senior SNP MSPs and Cabinet Secretaries are opposed to having Devo Max as an option on the ballot paper, as was a majority of SNP MSPs. If they said this to the press, then I feel it undermines the position of the Scottish Government, doing the unionists job for them, and sowing cynicism amongst many Scots who favour Devo Max.
ReplyDeleteIf it is not on the ballot paper, then following today's report, people will assume that it was a cynical ploy all along. It is crucial, in my opinion, not to relent on the isssue of number of options on the ballot paper. We will never be able to mobilise Civic Scotland if we capitulate now, without mobilising Civic Scotland the campaign will be much easier for the NO campaign to defeat. Those MSPs are deluding themselves.
I've not seen that Sunday Herald article, Alex, and think it's completely wrong. I just saw Alex Salmond on the Politics Show stating, yet again (for the umpteenth time), that the SNP will be pushing for independence, but are happy to consider a Devo-Max question if someone - either a political party or parties or a civic group, can specify what it is and what the question should be.
ReplyDeleteSeems pretty open to me. I'll not be surprised to see this discussed again in the forthcoming referendum consultation due to start in the next week or two
Colin