There is a logical route to gaining independence at the next United Kingdom General Election – Vote SNP

The Scottish National Party (SNP) have a plan for initiating negotiations for independence after the next UK general election (if there is a clear vote in favour). It is the quickest and most democratic way to do it and the plan deserves wide support across the Yes movement. If the 54% who it is reported support independence right now voted SNP at the next UK General Election (under the terms noted below) we would have a very clear and valid mandate for independence, no referendum required. The higher the SNP vote is, the better the mandate.

“Conference agrees that the SNP manifesto for the UK General Election should state on page one, line one, the following simple and powerful statement: Vote SNP for Scotland to become an independent country.”

“Conference believes that if the SNP subsequently wins a majority of the seats at the General Election in Scotland, the Scottish Government is empowered to begin immediate negotiations with the UK Government to give democratic effect to Scotland becoming an independent country…”

https://www.snp.org/our-strategy-for-winning-scotlands-independence/

Imperial delusions don’t make Britain great

Britain should stop giving out medals and knighthoods in honour of a long dead racist and rapacious Empire. There are other things which indicate Britain is not so great.

1) Banning republicans from parliament is actually shameful in a supposed democracy.

2) A brutish British Tory government which works for millionaires and appears to detest the poor doesn’t and shouldn’t fill anyone with pride. Shame is the appropriate emotion.

3) Britain’s foreign policy stinks. Cutting foreign aid to the bone was bad enough but Brexit is a completely suicidal approach to trade while preventing freedom of movement has caused huge problems and solved none. The USA clearly sees Britain as a pariah in world affairs. They have told Britgov to go whistle for a trade deal and that will continue as long as Britain threatens the NI protocol and the Good Friday Agreement.

I’m a Scot and feel proud of what my country can potentially become and has started in the Scottish Parliament with moves toward more fairness in society. Free prescriptions, plans for free dental care and a better funded and better performing NHS shows the SNP Government have the health of our people as a priority. Similarly having no tuition fees means our young people are not prevented from accessing education. In England you get what you pay for, if you can afford it. The taxation system is fairer in Scotland with higher earners paying more tax and the low paid paying less.

England and Scotland could be friends and allies as independent countries on a basis of equality. England is just too big to be in an equal union with Scotland and for the moment what they say goes and we have to lump it.

The Tory Government got into power on a minority of the vote. If Labour had any sense the next time they get in power (if ever) they should introduce Proportional Representation. That would isolate the Tories for ever and open up potential alliances with the Liberal Democrats and Greens. Unfortunately Labour have given no indication that they dislike the two party system even though it usually works against them.

Maybe England can also be proud of itself in the future but it is unlikely while they fly the ‘Butchers Apron’ union flag and hang on to empire dreams. Perhaps their ambitions will adjust if Scotland and Wales (and Cornwall) leave the union. That would be no bad thing.

Maybe Queen Elizabeth didn’t oppose Scottish independence, who knows?

Many unionist commentators (mostly from England) are ecstatic at the high numbers of mourners who lined the streets before the late Queen Elizabeth was (temporarily) laid in state at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh. Her coffin was covered in the Scottish Royal flag, the Lion Rampant and the streets were lined with well wishers along the route from her Balmoral Estate to Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh.

Brits are hoping this is an indication of a unionist revival in Scotland as the Queen is one of the biggest symbols of the British state, support for the Queen equals support for Britain, right?

Not necessarily. The main supporters of independence are the SNP. The SNP support the monarchy and both the former First Minister Alex Salmond and the current FM Nicola Sturgeon have been careful to design her as Queen of Scots when she visited Scotland which she did quite regularly. This epithet could be seen as fitting since the Queen shares the blood of the great Scots hero King Robert the Bruce (through her mother Elizabeth Bowes Lyon) and has always loved her Royal Estate of Balmoral where she sadly passed away.

British unionists will find I’m sure that Scotland can seperate their genuine feelings for a long serving (70 years) 96 year old monarch from the actions of her British Government.

Many people claimed (without proof) that the Queen was personally upset by the idea of independence for Scotland but I think she would have been quite happy about it if we had voted Yes in 2014. She seemingly welcomed the establishment of the Scottish parliament so why not? Her words ‘think carefully’ could well have meant ‘don’t miss this opportunity’ while Cameron’s ‘purred down the phone’ comments were quite obvious Tory spin ie not to be believed.

Nicolas Witchell the BBC’s Royal reporter (who is detested by the new King Charles, who was once caught on tape saying ‘oh god, there’s that awful man again!’) claimed otherwise but who really believes that the Royal Family confide in him?

She is head of state for a large number of countries and many in Scotland would have been happy to keep her as ours. Whether King Charles and his son will be welcomed similarly is another matter. If they remain neutral on independence (like the Queen) then perhaps but if they start briefing against independence then they won’t.

Next Labour? Oh dear! Not Labour is more accurate.

When Gordon Brown stepped down as Prime Minister he left both new and old Labour as a busted flush. Still retaining some loyalty in Scotland and Wales but disliked throughout the rest of the UK.

Next Labour? New Labour signalled a sell out to Conservatism. Sticking another adjective in front will just show that Labour still hasn’t a clue what the hell it stands for.

What we do know is that it is not Labour ie the working classes that they represent so “Not Labour” would probably be the most honest re-branding of all.

My cynical prediction for next Labour leader is Andy Burnham. I think that Labour will want someone who can challenge the Tories and Liberal Democrats on their own turf. That means they need a blandly handsome individual with no particular political ethos.

Ed and David are bland but they are not handsome and to be brutally frank they come across as oddballs on TV. They inherited some political good will and credibility from their principled father. Unfortunately in actual action they have been less successful.

While it is unfair to judge a person based upon their looks, if you bear a resemblance to a gasping goldfish unfortunately that becomes a factor. The older Miliband looked out of his depth at the foreign office and the USA did not take him seriously. Who could? He looked like a serious young lad who was up past his bedtime and was playing at being a serious politician.

This worked out for Gordon Brown who wanted to remain the main figure in his Government. After his ‘warfare’ with Tony Blair (which probably was very useful to the Labour Government as a distraction from political issues) he was no doubt nervous of promoting anyone into such a potentially powerful position who might have been able to use it as a platform. No, it was no doubt thought better to promote an ambitious follower rather than a future leader. Of course later on Mr Miliband tried to oust Brown but his actual credibility was no match for Mr Brown’s even at the fag end of his administration.

Brown was always a ‘big figure’. As a unionist his first loyalty was never to Scotland and therefore I have never had much regard for him, however it has to be said that he was a much more substantial figure than Tony Blair and David Cameron. Gordon Brown’s main fault was to be a Scot at a time where Scotland had began to retain some of its power through devolution. If he had called an election shortly after taking over as PM he might have managed to win over England.

As it was the caricature of a “Brown Bottler” became his trademark. The public (well actually the tabloid press) decided they were sick of his face and wanted an election. From that point he was a dead duck Prime Minister. Unfortunately Labour (as we now see very clearly) had no alternative leader in the wings. In Scotland probably most people (and where the tabloids have less direct influence) felt he should be given a chance to prove himself, in England that was not the case.

David Cameron might be best described as another Tony Blair, while Nick Clegg might be seen as a Tony Blair twice removed or even a David Cameron copy.

Cameron was the product of a long search for Tory leader in which every variation was tried. Eventually it was decided that the whole brand was toxic and the Tories needed someone who could pretend he had sort of drifted into Conservatism by mistake. If Cameron had failed then I suspect Boris Johnson would have been the next candidate.

Cameron is a true Tory with true Tory instincts (ie a dislike for the poor) but who is also a PR man who can pretend otherwise. It is true he has changed politics. He was the man who became what Blair wanted to become, the true heir to Blair. A man with a better smile and with even less political principle.

Unfortunately for him at the point he was elected, Blair himself had outlasted his usefulness and was now something of a liability. Along with Blair’s fall a distrust of spin persisted.

That is why Cameron failed to win the election outright, however Nick Clegg has proven to be a perfect ally because they are birds of a very similar political plumage.

Clegg was brought in when Ming Campbell was removed. Campbell, another clever Scot, proved to be too old and decrepit to challenge the new boy David. So it was the more handsome Clegg rather than the smarter Chris Huhne who became the Liberals leader. (Huhne was lining himself up for Home Secretary, the only big job the Libs would have had. I suspect it was Nick Clegg rather than David Cameron who decided he shouldn’t get it).

[Any rational analysis of the new Government by the way suggests some brilliant negotiation by the Conservatives and some disastrous errors by the Liberal Democrats. Every major post is held by the Tories and the LD’s have effectively sold out their ‘big idea’ Proportional Representation. AV is not true PR and a referendum on that is likely to lead to a continuation of FPTP. Welcome to the political wilderness Liberals. Your old party will get stuffed very shortly and deservedly, leaving UK politics back with the big two.]

So where is Labour now? Well I think it is fair to say that at the moment they are floating dead in the water and the antics of the Milbands are being treated, not unnaturally, as the last gasps of a corpse.

Their published views so far indicate that the Milly boys are not leaders with their own political judgement. What they actually are is mouthpieces for a discredited political party whose mouths are still opening and closing on reflex.

They are the entrée dishes and the main course has yet to be served. The real fight will be between Alan Johnson and Andy Burnham. Johnson is a credible candidate but I suspect in this PR obsessed time his age will be a factor. Burnham (or someone similar) will win but his party will still be moribund and politically irrelevant.

I expect the future leader (whoever it is) to fail against David Cameron (who will not need the Lib Dems post the next election). I suspect at UK level the people will see at least a decade and probably much more without another Labour Government.

At that point a new leader may arrive who will move Labour back to the political left. However by then it will be far too late.

Despair then? Hardly. Scotland has an opportunity to escape the bland faces of British politics with relative ease and the SNP will fight the next elections in Scotland from Scotland which makes all the difference.