People’s Vote campaign got it all wrong in Scotland

The Scottish independence movement is the largest grassroots political movement in the UK which is, on the whole, opposed to leaving the EU. It is easily the best organised and the most coherent. It is also the only mass grassroots movement which has a well thought out and considered escape route from the insanity of the Conservatives’ chaotic Brexit.

You might think, given the realities on the ground, that prominent supporters of the People’s Vote campaign might have come to Scotland with a wee bit of humility, all the more so since these were the people telling us in 2014 that Scotland needed to vote No in order to remain a member of the EU.

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Both independence supporters and Remainers suffered a defeat in a referendum. In the aftermath of defeat, one of those groups was thrown into confusion, recriminations, and left adrift without leadership or direction, the other became re-energised, refocused and grew in strength and organisation.

Here in Scotland we have a parliament in which there is a majority for a second vote, and a highly organised mass grassroots campaign numbering in the tens if not hundreds of thousands with local groups and branches in every part of the country which is going to campaign in that vote when it comes. You might have thought then, that the People’s Vote campaign would have come to Scotland and demonstrated some willingness to learn from the experience of the Scottish independence movement.

After all, we have much to teach them, and we would be happy to share our knowledge and experience. Those of us who are active in the Scottish independence movement might seek Scottish independence, but we do actually care about what happens in the rest of the UK. The vast majority of us are as horrified by the consequences of Brexit on England, Wales and Northern Ireland as we are by its consequences for Scotland.

Sadly, we didn’t get a People’s Vote campaign coming to Scotland with an attitude of humility. They just came with an attitude. Instead of a willingness to learn from us, all we’ve heard are calls from the People’s Vote campaign to get over the 2014 vote and get behind their campaign.

How dare we put Scotland’s interests first. It’s England’s interests which are really important and Scotland’s proper job is to help the British political establishment get out of a mess of its own creation. Brexit, they tell us, is far more important than Scottish independence.

As a supporter of independence who seeks a second referendum, of course I support a second referendum on EU membership. Both referendums were won by people who made promises that they either couldn’t keep or had no intentions of keeping. Both referendums were won on the basis of an unfair vote, in the case of Scotland with a hideously biased and one-sided media which systematically sidelined and marginalised pro-independence arguments, in the case of the EU vote with a leave campaign which broke electoral law.

If these were commercial transactions, we could have sued under the Trades Descriptions Act. Unfortunately, the People’s Vote campaign seeks a rerun of the EU referendum, but it is led by people who refuse to countenance a second Scottish referendum. That’s sheer hypocrisy.

There are unanswered questions. Questions which any proponent of the People’s Vote ought to have considered before coming to Scotland and demanding that independence supporters get behind their campaign. What if there is another EU vote, and England yet again votes to leave the EU but Scotland votes to remain. Where does that leave Scotland? Will the People’s Vote leaders back a second Scottish referendum and support independence? If the vote does result in a decision to remain in the EU, how exactly does it benefit the Scottish independence movement to campaign alongside people who told us in 2014 that an independence vote was a vote to leave the EU, just so that they can make that same argument against us in a future independence referendum?

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Then there is the basis on which the People’s Vote seeks a ballot. They say it should be a vote on the outcome of negotiations between the British government and the EU. But even if there was enough time left to organise a referendum between now and Brexit day, what happens if the vote is to reject the deal? The People’s Vote has no answer to that either. There is also the concern that it might open the door to demands from the British state that if Scotland votes for independence next time, that there ought to be a third independence vote in Scotland, following the completion of negotiations between Holyrood and Westminster.

This is an English political war. It won’t be solved by the People’s Vote. The British exceptionalism which is a cover for English nationalism will not go away. The anti-European sentiment stirred up by the right-wing press will not go away. What the UK needs is a resetting. It needs to be turned off and back on again. The only realistic way to achieve that is with Scottish independence. That will lead to a fundamental realignment in the politics of the rest of the UK almost as much as in Scotland.

Perhaps instead of coming to Scotland to lecture us and demanding that Scottish independence supporters get behind their campaign, the leaders and organisers of the People’s Vote campaign should get behind ours. We’re the ones who’re organised, we’re the ones who’ve got a grassroots movement. We’re the ones who’ve already got our escape route from Brexit. We’re the ones who’re going to achieve our goals. If the People’s Vote campaign wants the support of the Scottish independence movement, they’re going to have to demonstrate that they have some awareness of our concerns. So far, they’ve signally failed to do so.