THE STATUS QUO REMAINS. Despite the siren demands for a referendum the reality is the SNP is stuck. A very strong result for them, for sure, but 47.7 per cent is not a majority any more than 64 out of 129 is. Moreover, even I they had gained a majority that was no basis for a second referendum. None at all.
That power lies with Westminster, and in any case the solemn “once in a generation” pledge made by the SNP as a condition for the 2014 was clear in its meaning. It is they who are going back on their word, not us. It might not suit them now, but there is no moral, or legal, obligation for a second referendum thus we can breathe easy.
Or can we? The truth of the matter is despite abject Government the SNP has gained its fourth thumping victory in a row whether we like it or not. This speaks more of the failure of the opposition rather than the triumph of the SNP.
On almost every level, despite every advantage, the SNP Government has talked a good game only to deliver truly awful results. The list is well known, especially on this website, be it in drugs deaths, economic underperformance, millions wasted on questionable industrial bale-outs, educational performance, care home mortality, extremity of lockdown response or increasingly closing down free speech. Hardly on any measure has the SNP done well despite the vastly higher resources it receives thanks to the UK Government’s support.
Moreover, the British Government, far from enacting austerity has done the opposite. The UK furlough scheme is about the most generous in the world as has been support for business. No Scottish Treasury could have managed a fraction of that. Such a bale-out, for the second time in a decade (the multi-hundred billion rescue of Royal Bank and Bank of Scotland being the previous occasion) has become a fairly regular occurrence. Yet not a glimmer of recognition from Nicola Sturgeon.
The principle Unionist opposition is both divided and mute. For Labour it is never enough. Spend and tax even more in their own peculiar, if slightly more articulate version, of the blame game.
The Tories, however, where to start? They too have done their bit to undermine and depress Unionist support. By broadly agreeing with the SNP on Brexit, when as a matter of fact Scotland is economically about the least impacted part of the UK from the UK’s decision to leave (simply because under 20 per cent of Scottish trade goes to the EU,way less than any other area – while relatively few EU nationals chose to live in Scotland compared with other parts of the UK) Davidson, Ross and their crew simply increased anxiety where there should have been opportunity.
Then they effectively banned the British Prime Minister from coming north. He was too toxic and unpopular they hinted. This too was breathtakingly arrogant for a new leader whose own performance was somewhat lacklustre but more importantly if your own team says the Prime Minister is a bad man don’t be surprised if the electorate agree. They did the SNP’s bidding for them. If Johnson can be popular in Hartlepool surely with a bit of imagination he could have been ‘bigged-up’ by his own team here?
Next they wrongly said vote for us to stop ‘IndyRef 2.’ Well they had no power to make such a claim, that rests with Westminster, but in doing so they could have made it much harder for Johnson to morally refuse a referendum should the SNP have scored a majority. They risked legitimising SNP claims and all because they were unable to find any other tramline to attack this miserable Sturgeon Government.
And by the way, what exactly is Indyref2? It is a slogan cleverly devised by the SNP to minimise both the importance of a referendum through snappy street language and to make it sound a nice matter-of-fact everyday event. The breaking of a 300-year union is not some nice small routine event but a major separation, the mother of all painful divorces, so please do not fall into the trap of fighting on the enemy’s terms and language.
Love Johnson, or loathe him, his sunny optimism absolutely could have helped the cause, especially if those who were supposed to cheer for him, Ross and his chums, actually had made the positive case alongside him. What about furlough, what about his infrastructure ideas to connect the whole UK, what about his clear support of the Union? What about freeports, better fishing opportunities, trade deals that help the whisky industry and other exporters, being able to change procurement rules to help local industry, improved employment laws???
And let’s not forget the massive UK vaccination investment, development and delivery!
This snide distancing from Boris by snide articles placed in the media suggesting Johnson was holding them back was rubbish. Sure many people in Scotland do not like Boris but according to polls 27 per cent do like him. On The Scots’ Tories showing of 21.9 per cent of the vote it seems Ross delivered minus 5.1 per cent compared with the 27 per cent who actually like Johnson.
The worthy but dour and often down right underwhelming case that Ross and his team made inspires no one. They may have held their vote at around one-in-five of the electorate. Big deal, given the open goal on offer from Sturgeon’s lamentable Government – but how many of that number voted out of habit or ‘to save the union’ and how many actually out of joyous excitement of great leadership and a positive platform brimming-over with ideas? We shall never know but I will wager the Unionist side won very few converts to that particular brand of decline management.
Frankly, Scotland needs better and those who care about preserving this Union need to marshal far more inspiring and optimistic tones. There is a great case to make and a large target to attack let’s get stuck in.
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