Sturgeons road map to oblivion.
I wrote this back in November last year, making the case that it is wrong to campaign for independence as we have never, not been independent but merely a partner in a union. A partnership freely entered on the basis that when the arrangement ceased to be of advantage to us, it could be ended using the same method as was employed when the union was formed.
https://bobsblog.scot/2021/11/27/the-world-this-week-from-mennies-48/
Earlier this week, Nicola sturgeon made a long-awaited announcement regarding the oft-promised referendum. She set a date of 19th October 2023. Great, this got many people jumping up and down with glee at the “new campaign” Only problem there is that there is no new campaign and one of the reasons for this is that there has been no preparation for a campaign, even though we have had almost 8 years to prepare for one.
There has been no definitive arrangement for what currency we will use even though an SNP conference decided that the proposal of a joint currency for at least 10 years set by the growth commission led by Andrew Wilson, was not to be implemented as SNP policy and in fact that an independent Scotland was to have its own currency at the soonest possible time after normalization of Scotland’s place among independent nations. Quite simply Nicola sturgeon ignored the instruction of the conference.
There are of course numerous other unanswered questions, such as borders and pensions, left after the last referendum, which again seem to have been deliberately ignored by the leadership.
So here we are, totally unprepared, after almost 8 years of doing absolutely nothing and Nicola Sturgeon has now decided that there will be a referendum next year. The big problem with that is the way she has decided to do this because built into her road map is the most onerous set of obstacles one can ever imagine.
First, she persists with this idiotic section 30 route, which briefly is a construct included in the devolution settlement and Scotland act which allows Westminster to block any attempt to hold a referendum or choose to allow a temporary derogation of the act in order to facilitate the holding of a referendum.
Now in order to attempt to implement that derogation you first have to accept the fact that it is necessary in the first place and to do that you have to accept that the devolution settlement was necessary in the first place. Which basically removes the right to withdraw from the union when it is decided that the union no longer benefits Scotland.
When the union was formed, it was basically a trading arrangement between two nations very much like the EU. The difference was that instead of having two parliaments ( one national and one union) both Scotland and England decided to have only one at that time. There was never any intention for Scotland to be subsumed into England.
The way the union was formed was for the representatives of both the English parliament and the Scottish parliament to vote on whether to form the union. Most of England’s representatives voted to join and a Majority of Scotland’s representatives voted to join. Had either of the parliaments failed to get a majority then there would not have been a union. It falls, therefore, that this should be the method used to leave the union.
There was never any suggestion that there had to be a majority of the people in the country or a majority of the people who had voted these people into power for the decision to be taken. Not only that but as far as I know, there was not even a specific plebiscitary election held, no, it was taken that the people elected were there to make decisions on behalf of the electorate.
The situation today is different, in as much as, not only is there a vast majority of SNP MPs in Westminster but there are there on the basis of regaining Scotland’s independence, both through election mandates and the constitution of the SNP. Therefore, at any time these MP’s could come back to Scotland and declare that the Union has ceased to be of benefit to Scotland and therefore we are now acting as the independent country we always have been and are withdrawing from the union.
For reasons known only to herself and possibly a few others, perhaps the ones who are really pulling the strings, Nicola Sturgeon has decided not to do this and instead devised a method of allowing every possible obstacle to thwart the objective of attaining an independent status.
She has decided to pursue what she calls the gold standard of section 30. A rout which has attained this mystical gold standard, which only exists in her head, by being used once in the history of the planet and failed horribly in its objective.
It failed because it allowed the host country to actively campaign against it. Something banned under the UN charter of self-determination.
It failed because we allowed non-Scottish peoples to vote in it.
It failed because we did not answer questions related to people’s financial situation and linked our economy to the union we intended to leave.
Now not only is Nicola Sturgeon deliberately pursuing the least likely route to independence, but she is inviting a foreign judiciary to adjudicate its legality. That is the equivalent of the Scottish parliament going to the crown court in England in 1707 to decide whether Scotland had the right to make a decision to join the union in the first place.
Ok, so now let’s look at her backup plan, which is a plebiscitary election. Now firstly this depends on there being a Westminster election at the right time and as I have suggested, arriving at the situation we already have with a majority of Scottish Westminster MPs. or does it? Well, John Swinney seemed to think so shortly after Sturgeon’s announcement last week, that was until she must have had a word in his ear because he very shortly withdrew the suggestion that a simple majority of MP’S was what was required and changed it to a majority of people who had voted.
Sturgeon must have realised that it will be more difficult to attain an outright majority of voters than simply MPs. This goes against the accepted democratic process of first past the post for UK elections and also differs from the way the union came into being in the first place. Obviously, it would be better if we could attain an outright majority of voters but because of various impediments that could be difficult.
So, let’s look at the possible impediments and I fully believe some of these have deliberately been put in place to obstruct the cause of independence.
Well, most people will look beyond any campaign which might eventually be put in place, and it would seem reasonable to expect the first government in an independent Scotland to be an SNP one. So, what will people have to look forward to?
Gender recognition, basically denying that Men are men and allowing them into woman’s safe places thereby installing a huge potential safety issue.
Allowing men to compete in women’s sports, the basic principle of competition to be destroyed.
A dystopian hate crime bill was deliberately put in place to stop concerns regarding Gender recognition law.
A severely incompetent Scottish government regarding their connections with the commercial world IE, Shipbuilding, ferries debacle, rail debacle, Prestwick airport debacle.
Involvement in a conspiracy to jail an innocent man which involved people close to the first minister.
The vindictiveness with which she treated an innocent man and her disregard for a not guilty verdict and the Scottish legal system.
Attempts to dispense with the jury system because it did not accord with the verdict in mind.
The actual jailing of a journalist for accurately reporting a court case relating to the conspiracy to jail an innocent man.
Covered up Sex scandals involving favoured politicians
Deliberate changing of rules to exclude Joana Cherry from standing in an Edinburgh constituency, thereby allowing favourite, Angus Robertson to stand
Scottish education is a mess.
Scottish NHS is underfunded while giving millions to Ukraine ( one of the most corrupt countries on the planet) for war weapons.
Giving very large amounts of taxpayer’s money to organizations like Stonewall.
Sexualizing children’s teaching in schools with virtual grooming and normalising unnatural and dangerous sexual practices.
The mishandling of the covid crisis and moving infected elderly patients into care homes without testing thereby seeding care homes with deadly covid causing thousands of needless deaths.
Missing £600K in supposedly ring-fenced funds donated to a campaign which never happened.
Abject failure in grasping God-sent persistent opportunities to go for independence, as in. Brexit, Scotland act debate, early proroguing of parliament etc.
A leader who deliberately mislead parliament and then when investigated couldn’t remember details over 50 times.
I could go on, but the point I wish to make is that whether through deliberate actions or simply unbridled incompetence Sturgeon has formulated a cesspit of horror for people to consider during the voting process, and this is going to make it extremely difficult for people to vote for her and thereby achieve our objective through the chosen avenues with Sturgeon still in charge.
There are other much safer avenues such as the re-convening of the estates and a Scottish convention, but sturgeon has chosen this as it is the riskiest and most dangerous method and the one most likely to end in failure.
I hope I am wrong with this, but my instincts and my gut feeling is that instead of a road map to independence, this is Sturgeon’s road map to oblivion for the independence movement.
Bob Costello 