SNP Tactical Voting: The Referendum Bill
Now is not the time for soundbites, but I do believe that the hand of history is on our shoulders.
It is fitting to use Tony Blair's famous phrase to honour the Referendum Bill's white paper as Tony was the Prime Minister who delivered devolution to Scotland and it was Tony who was Prime Minister when the SNP won an historic victory in the Scottish Parliament elections in 2007, a victory that clearly pained the Labour leader who could only congratulate Alex Salmond through gritted teeth.
A similar pain is in abundance across the SNP's political opponents and some parts of the media as the Nationalist movement seeks to complete its destiny by bringing the people with them in its quest for independence.
The claim that Scotland's unemployment level is too high to be thinking about independence has been raised and yet our level of unemployment sits favourably against Scotland's historical levels, not to mention the UK and even EU levels.
The lamentable state of Scotland's economy is cited as another reason not to hold a referendum next year and yet if our lagging economy is a product of the United Kingdom constitutional framework then surely it is incumbent upon us to test the potential solution of indepdendence and gain control of the full gamut of financial levers sooner rather than later.
Far from being a reason not to have a referendum, being in recession while the rest of the EU returns to growth could be a key reason for getting on with one as quickly as possible.
Being a relative whipper-snapper of an SNP member it is easy for me to forget how many senior Nationalists have knocked doors, delivered leaflets, pleaded the case, received verbal abuse, decade after decade after decade just to be given the chance for Scotland to have a say on Scotland's future. I was lucky enough to be in attendance when Gordon Wilson painted out the long, hard road that the SNP has travelled thus far.
Amidst the daily hurly-burly of Scottish politics it is also easy to forget just how hugely symbolic today is so it is worth stepping back to look at the context.
Scotland has been ruled from London for 302 years. There have been 20 Conservative Governments, 17 Whig Governments, 11 Tory Governments, 10 Labour Governments, 6 Liberal Governments, 5 National Governments, 3 Coalition Governments and 1 Palmerston Government.
Yes, the Whig party governed Scotland more recently than Scotland fully governed itself.
But Scotland has a Scottish Government, one that will forever be famous in our country's history. It may not always feel like it, but we live in historic times.
So when Alex Salmond raises the Referendum Bill white paper above his head later today he won't be the only person holding it.
So too will Alexander McEwan, the first leader of the Scottish National Party back in 1934.
So too will Dr Robert McIntyre, voted into Westminster as the first SNP MP in 1945.
So too will James Halliday, a former leader who is currently Chairman of the Scots Independent publication.
So too will Arthur Donaldson, who was party leader throughout the 1960s.
So too will William Wolfe, who brought greater professionalism to the party and led the party when it won a record 11 MPs in 1974.
So too will Jim Sillars and Margo MacDonald (albeit through gritted teeth), both winners of breakthrough by-elections in Glasgow Govan.
So too will Bashir Ahmad and Sir Neil MacCormick, popular personalities within the party who both sadly died this year.
And so too will Nicola Sturgeon, John Swinney, Mike Russell, Kenny MacAskill and so many more who have brought the SNP tantalisingly close to its dream.
It is fitting to use Tony Blair's famous phrase to honour the Referendum Bill's white paper as Tony was the Prime Minister who delivered devolution to Scotland and it was Tony who was Prime Minister when the SNP won an historic victory in the Scottish Parliament elections in 2007, a victory that clearly pained the Labour leader who could only congratulate Alex Salmond through gritted teeth.
A similar pain is in abundance across the SNP's political opponents and some parts of the media as the Nationalist movement seeks to complete its destiny by bringing the people with them in its quest for independence.
The claim that Scotland's unemployment level is too high to be thinking about independence has been raised and yet our level of unemployment sits favourably against Scotland's historical levels, not to mention the UK and even EU levels.
The lamentable state of Scotland's economy is cited as another reason not to hold a referendum next year and yet if our lagging economy is a product of the United Kingdom constitutional framework then surely it is incumbent upon us to test the potential solution of indepdendence and gain control of the full gamut of financial levers sooner rather than later.
Far from being a reason not to have a referendum, being in recession while the rest of the EU returns to growth could be a key reason for getting on with one as quickly as possible.
Being a relative whipper-snapper of an SNP member it is easy for me to forget how many senior Nationalists have knocked doors, delivered leaflets, pleaded the case, received verbal abuse, decade after decade after decade just to be given the chance for Scotland to have a say on Scotland's future. I was lucky enough to be in attendance when Gordon Wilson painted out the long, hard road that the SNP has travelled thus far.
Amidst the daily hurly-burly of Scottish politics it is also easy to forget just how hugely symbolic today is so it is worth stepping back to look at the context.
Scotland has been ruled from London for 302 years. There have been 20 Conservative Governments, 17 Whig Governments, 11 Tory Governments, 10 Labour Governments, 6 Liberal Governments, 5 National Governments, 3 Coalition Governments and 1 Palmerston Government.
Yes, the Whig party governed Scotland more recently than Scotland fully governed itself.
But Scotland has a Scottish Government, one that will forever be famous in our country's history. It may not always feel like it, but we live in historic times.
So when Alex Salmond raises the Referendum Bill white paper above his head later today he won't be the only person holding it.
So too will Alexander McEwan, the first leader of the Scottish National Party back in 1934.
So too will Dr Robert McIntyre, voted into Westminster as the first SNP MP in 1945.
So too will James Halliday, a former leader who is currently Chairman of the Scots Independent publication.
So too will Arthur Donaldson, who was party leader throughout the 1960s.
So too will William Wolfe, who brought greater professionalism to the party and led the party when it won a record 11 MPs in 1974.
So too will Jim Sillars and Margo MacDonald (albeit through gritted teeth), both winners of breakthrough by-elections in Glasgow Govan.
So too will Bashir Ahmad and Sir Neil MacCormick, popular personalities within the party who both sadly died this year.
And so too will Nicola Sturgeon, John Swinney, Mike Russell, Kenny MacAskill and so many more who have brought the SNP tantalisingly close to its dream.
posted by Jeff at
07:58
7 Comments:
"A similar pain is in abundance across the SNP's political opponents and some parts of the media as the Nationalist movement seeks to complete its destiny by bringing the people with them in its quest for independence."
Is this an admission that the public isn't with the SNP and doesn't want independence?
Reads awfully like it...
Goodness me - awful high rhetoric Jeff! I never saw devolution as anything to get much excited about - all it delivers is what most European states grant to lower assemblies, which is fine by me, as will be tax-raising powers.
Even the independence options being gabbed about boil down into nothing terribly dramatic within the European context.
And I wouldn't make too much of sharing a political vision with some of the old SNP figures you invoke: you share your multicultural and multifaith beliefs with modern unionists, not your founding fathers!
Jeff has the right of it here. What Maddox would prefer not to see is that we are living in momentous, earth-changing times.
The movement for independence got a shot in the arm today. So 30% of the people are against it. So what? 30% are dead set for it and the rest just don't know.
We can persuade that other 30% I think and maybe even claw some back from the "no" camp whilst we're at it.
Point is, polls don't count. Elections do. Labour et al say "the people don't want independence". Really? Prove it. Money where your mouth is, call the ballot and we'll go for it. I'll personally knock on every damned door I can find, talk myself hoarse, do whatever I can to convince people that we, as a country can do better.
We deserve that right, it's democracy. Our governing party were elected on a mandate to bring forth a referendum. What democratic party would ever stand in the way of the people having a say?!
Math:
The Times had a poll at the weekend showing 20% in favour of independence and only 25% in favour of an early referendum. So you would have a lot more to persuade than you say.
This campaign is just like the Nationalist Conversation and the Homecoming... the SNP using its position in government to get more publicity, using public money if possible.
Personally I'm with the Herald: on Saturday it had a main story on the crisis in our schools, today it's front page has a main story on the crisis in our hospitals, with only a sidebar on the referendum.
Referendum on independence, and indeed independence itself, are a sidebar.
I want, and I believe the Scottish people want, schools and hospitals and all the referendums in the world will not supply those.
If nationalists would stop obsessing on a mythical "Scotland" and instead think of the needs and wants of the real and existing Scottish People, it would be better for all of us.
Then we might actually address some of our real problems and not wsaste time on constitutional fiddling.
I think that constitutional change is one of the most important things there are Braveheart.
Of course the economy is important, and people are rightly concerned about hospitals and schooling, and the SNP are making great strides on these issues, where they can.
But that's the crux of the situation. Where they can.
Quite often, the Scottish Government is limited in what it can do, because they don't have control over Scotland's spending, London does. When they wanted to build a second bridge over the Forth, our own government had to go cap in hand to London to ask to borrow some money, because the Scottish Government don't have that ability.
Your local council can and does borrow money as it sees fit, but our Government can't govern in many situations, because London hold all the cards.
If Holyrood wants to build a school, it has to find the money. If they want to build a hospital, they have to pay for it up-front. If they don't have it up-front, tough.
We need constitutional change, so that the Government of Scotland can govern Scotland. Right now, a lot of important decisions are made in another country, by a government that cares little for Scotland, given it has less than one tenth the number of people (and hence votes).
From constitutional reform flows everything else.
Independence won't magically solve the problems Scotland faces. But it would enable the Scottish Government to try and solve them. London doesn't and will never care about poverty in Glasgow's slums, or the fate of east-coast fishermen or the rights of crofters, because quite frankly, w're too small a fish to fry for London. They have 54 million English people to care about before the puny needs of the 5 million in Scotland get a look in. And quite often, the needs of them 54 million are vastly different, often opposite to the needs of the Scottish people. Majority rules, so London gets an Olympics we in Scotland have to pay for yet will see no dividends from. We get to send our troops to Afghanistan to back a foreign policy based around London's place in the world, when Scotland has no need or interest to be on the UN Security Council. We get to pay for a nuclear weapons platform Scotland doesn't need and which the majority of Scots are opposed to.
All this is constitutional. It's like voting itself, you can't complain about the system unless you try to change it when offered. The system is broke, and to change it, we need to change the constitutional make-up of Scotland, either with enhanced devolution, or freedom from a Union we were never asked about, and which we see questionable dividends and pay for with the exploitation of our lands, resources and peoples.
Oh, and just a few points, to yourself and to others here. The Homecoming was arranged by Labour, we just supported it. I'd rather have seen it bigger and better but I guess the recession was really bad timing for many. I'll note you don't address why the Unionist parties refuse to let us have our say…
And to Jeff, Tony Blair never congratulated Alex Salmond, gritted teeth or otherwise. He demonstrated the arrogance and contempt that show why we need control of our own affairs because London don't care and cannot be trusted to do what's right for the future of Scotland.
Math:
"I think that constitutional change is one of the most important things there are.."
You may. Most don't.
"Of course the economy is important, and people are rightly concerned about hospitals and schooling, and the SNP are making great strides on these issues, where they can."
Great strides:) They have not produced hospital or one school in 2.5 years. They have promised, so far, 35 schools, not one of which will be completed by May 2011..i.e. no new schools in the parliamentary term. This is not a minor failing...great strides...oh dear.
"..Scottish Government is limited in what it can do, because they don't have control over Scotland's spending, London does".
Not true. Holyrood has control of the block grant. £29.6billion this year. The UK spends on e.g. defence, crown estates etc. in Scotland etc., about £6billion, but Holyrood controls the vast majority of spending..including Education and Health.
So if the SNP really wanted to build schools and hospitals, it could have. Instead they were paralyzed by ideaology and proposed a stupid SFT system that has never worked. Refuse to use PPP, produce no SFT, no money, no schools, QED. Foolishness as policy.
"When they wanted to build a second bridge over the Forth, our own government had to go cap in hand to London to ask to borrow some money, because the Scottish Government don't have that ability."
They could have used PPP and were told so. The UK government also volunteered to provide some of the money, but the SNP refused. Ideology trumps the needs of the Scottish people yet again.
"If Holyrood wants to build a school, it has to find the money. If they want to build a hospital, they have to pay for it up-front. If they don't have it up-front, tough."
Strange, with all this impossibility in the system, how the Lab/Lib coalition built 236 new or major school refurbishments. Even stranger that he SNP have built none.
"Right now, a lot of important decisions are made in another country, by a government that cares little for Scotland, given it has less than one tenth the number of people (and hence votes).
So the same government doesn't care for Wales or NI or for that matter North east England, which all have less than a tenth of the voters? Tripe.
"Independence won't magically solve the problems Scotland faces."
Dead right. Working together might.
"But it would enable the Scottish Government to try and solve them. London doesn't and will never care about poverty in Glasgow's slums, or the fate of east-coast fishermen or the rights of crofters, because quite frankly, w're too small a fish to fry for London."
Them English eh? It's all their fault.
"And quite often, the needs of them 54 million are vastly different, often opposite to the needs of the Scottish people."
Not true IMO. The people of Scotland and England need houses, schools, hospitals, jobs, roads, policing, external security and all the other things that anyone needs. There is no difference.
continued...
"The system is broke, and to change it, we need to change the constitutional make-up of Scotland."
The system certainly isn't perfect, but there is very little evidence that changing the constitution in the way you want will improve it in the ways that you want.
"Oh, and just a few points, to yourself and to others here. The Homecoming was arranged by Labour, we just supported it."
Oh I see, so it was Jack MaConnell that I saw fronting all that publicity and the red rose, not tartan and shortbread on sale at all the stalls and Billy Bragg, not Dougie MacLean singing all those songs to reduced audiences. Aye right.
"I'd rather have seen it bigger and better but I guess the recession was really bad timing for many."
No. It was seen as an SNP front, so the majority stayed away.
"I'll note you don't address why the Unionist parties refuse to let us have our say"
Seems to me that you've had your say at length. If by "we" you mean the Scottish people, I'm not sure how you qualify to speak on their behalf, but they have their say all the time. If there was a real clamour for a referendum we would have one. The latest opinion poll puts support for independence at 20% and for an early referendum at 25%. As Tonto said when he and the Lone Ranger were surrounded by red indians "What you mean "we", kemo sabay?".
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