We watch as the UK falls into virtual fascism, faster than we thought was ever possible but the collapse is there to see and in full public view.
Take a look at what’s happening right now. First we have Rachel from Accounts with her magic “growth” plan aimed at making the wealthiest part of the UK wealthier still, then we see the Prime Minister –leader of the Labour party, the party of government – telling us that he won’t support policies which are not to the liking of Reform Ltd. for fear that voters would vote for them at the next election. And to this:
Think about that. Take your time. Our government will only adopt policies which are acceptable to a lunatic fringe party with a tiny number of seats in parliament. We are, in effect, being governed by Reform Ltd. and with over four years to go until the next election – if there is one.
Meanwhile our rush for growth excludes not only Scotland, the North of Ireland and Wales but most of England too. The collapse is under way.
But what of this country? What is our response? So far still no coherent action except to revive the moribund idea of a plebiscite election in 2026. It won’t work for the following reasons:
1. The constitutional arrangement underpinning the Holyrood assembly effectively militates against the furtherance of a process towards taking independence. Whether we like to admit it or not, Holyrood is a branch of Westminster. Any action taken in Scotland is subject to UK law and this is so because of the existence of 57 MPs in Westminster who are understood in international terms as the legal representatives of Scottish democratic right.
2. In the unlikely event that a newly elected Holyrood parliament decide to take matters into their own hands and to force the issue the immediate response from Westminster would be to effectively lock down the administration in Edinburgh which would mean no funding, no access to the electoral system and no chance of holding a referendum. And of course in this game of political poker, we would have shown them our hand. We would be taking on Westminster where they were strongest and, as I have said before, it’s like taking a knife to a gunfight.
3. The above notwithstanding, what would a vote achieve? Political parties aiming for Holyrood need to present a full manifesto. Even if the independence supporting parties were to put independence first, most voters would still want to know what they would do in government and, given that many voters don’t like the SNP, Alba, ISP et al, it is by no means clear that any kind of popular majority would be achieved and without an actual majority of voters any majority in Holyrood, while useful, would not suffice by itself.
4. We can’t simply walk into independence. We have to know what to do in all the areas of governance and administration. Boring I know but without clear knowledge and the acceptance of the Scottish public, support for independence may not be adequate – we may not reach 50% let alone the much higher figure we would like to see and how would failure now affect us for the future?
I have a suggestion.
Despite losing almost half their membership, the SNP are still by far the largest party – more members than all the other parties put together. These members could, if they put their minds to it, force the management to adopt the idea that the parliamentary party gets on with government business while the grassroots organise a national movement to carry the debate forward. The two sections would be independent of each other while at the non-parliamentary level we would hopefully see engagement with other independence-supporting parties and organisations. Both could work towards the next election, each doing what they do best.
As part of this process, we need a national convention. There have been several ideas put forward but without the full understanding of what the convention needs to do and thus we get muddled proposals without the basis for national authority. I have detailed (in the archives here) what needs to be put in place at the outset and, while issues such as power, housing, EU/EFTA etc are important, the very first things to do are to determine the structure of the convention, the form of government and to draft the constitution.
As for voting, this is what Scotland Decides was brought into being to provide – a voting platform which has nothing to do with the constitutional format of the UK system. We can vote for anything and at any time. We choose the timing and the wording of any referendum proposal. The system is blockchain enabled and has international authority. It is possible, as I have said before, that the present Westminster system may become so feeble that we can walk away with the self-determination that we all want. That may well happen but nevertheless we still have to be prepared for it.
I would like to ask all SNP members to consider this proposal and to bring pressure to bear on the party leadership to create such a non-parliamentary organisation which will do exactly what is necessary to unite our national movement.
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