Ever since the 2014 referendum I have offered criticism of the SNP for a lack of understanding as regards to the necessity to prepare for a future referendum. There have been several definite opportunities to have taken advantage of given situations but for some reason the SNP have failed to capitalise on any of them.
The SNP, are where they are, for a reason, and that is to attain independence for Scotland. This is what it says in their constitution and that is why they were voted into the Scottish Parliament and the Westminster Parliament. Now if you want something to happen you prepare the ground for it to happen. For the last three years and nine Months they have not even attempted to do this apart from the economic commission which ,to be honest creates more questions than it answers. After all this time ,all they could come up with is a”discussion document” and that is simply not good enough. Especially one which is wrong in so many ways as far as a future currency option goes. The main reason we lost the last referendum on was because we did not make a strong enough case for all the options open to us on currency and left ourselves a hostage to fortune, because of the no plan B perception and no national currency, or central Bank.
Now, in 2014 the joint currency actually made some sense as Sterling was reasonably stable, but now we have a completely different situation,. We were told back then that we should be part of the EU and as an independent country we would have to leave and re-apply. That may or may not have been the case but the important aspect of that fear that was thrown at us was the Importance of being in the EU, the largest trading block on the planet.
So where are we now? Well, despite Scotland voting 62% to 38% to remaining in the EU, we are about to be dragged out of it and in doing so the currency the economic Commission is suggesting we use, is about to go into free fall together with our export/Import markets as we face Armageddon.
The SNP, are actually aiding and abetting this travesty of common sense by supporting the British Government by deciding that the will of the Scottish people is to be only part off the single market. Not a single person in Scotland voted for that option for the simple reason that it was not on the ballot paper. Not only that but their present policy is not to support a second referendum on the question of whether to accept or not, the final deal reached between the British government and the EU. I wrote this blog on 19 December 2016, the day before Nicola brought out her answer to Brexit.
https://bobsblog.scot/2016/12/19/a-road-map-to-unionism/
The warning I gave in this blog is still very relevant today and the day after that blog I wrote one titled “I Told You So”
The events of the last few days in Westminster have underlined the lack of wisdom and stratagy that have followed the SNP for a considerable time in fact ever since Nicola Sturgeon became leader of the party and now we are in the position ,because of the SNP’s acquiescence with Westminster and lost opportunities together with lack of proper preparation that the very devolution settlement is now at extreme risk.
It came to me that an analogy of the SNP lack of preparation could be likened to a house with a very leaky roof. The owner gets a contractor in to inspect the roof and he determines that it requires extensive work to make it wind and water tight, so the customer gives him the go-ahead to make it good, just like we did with the SNP,. So the contractor starts work on the roof. He gets on very well making the roof, which was 27% water tight before he started, to 45%,. Then disaster strikes., There is a storm (the referendum) and the work has to stop but fortunately the 45% of work done remains in good order but the contractor has to leave the job until conditions improve.
The scaffold has blown down in the storm, some of the materials have been found to be unsuitable and the weather is changeable only allowing short opportunities to get back on the roof. In the mean time the contractor agrees to do some internal work on the house and makes a reasonable job of it, putting in new doors and double glazing but because of the still leaking roof the people cannot get the full use of their house.
Because of the sporadic timescale in which the work on the roof can be carried out the people urge the contractor to get the preparation done, like the scaffold up and the materials ordered but he does nothing, telling the people that he has a cleaver plan, but he is making a good job of the doors and the double glazing. Unfortunately, the doors are beginning to warp with the dampness and the double glazing is beginning to fog over. The customer is becoming very impatient because he realises that although the contractor is making a decent job of the interior it will never be right because he was employed to fix the roof.
Then disaster, the contractor becomes unwell and cannot finish either the roof or the interior so eventually the leaky roof causes the whole building to be unliveable.
That my friends is what is happening at the moment, the SNP have put all their efforts into making a pretty interior of the house and neglected the reason they were employed in the first place. Along the way they have tried to made a pact with the Devil, and save the Union, it is pay back time and they have prepared nothing.
We need another contractor, or at least another foreman to fix the roof.
Bob Costello 