BACK in May I wrote about the paralysing effects of Stockholm Syndrome when criticising Pete Wishart’s timorous need to ensure that opinion polls were showing the right polling numbers before any indy2 action. That was only seven months ago and after reading the SNP’s statement on Saturday, I’m left with a distinct sense of deja vu, albeit on slightly different topic.
The statement on the SNP website titled “Brexit deadlock continues: Four takeaways from the EU Council summit” makes four points:
• The Maybot’s abject failure to get a meaningful change to her deal
• The EU is clear there’s only one deal but more than one path
• The apt description of the little Englander approach as nebulous
• The leader of our party proclaiming that: “the only democratic way out of this impasse (is) that the decision must be brought back to the people in a People’s Vote”.
In the week just past, where the PM has honed her skills of kicking the can down the road into an art form, I’m seriously concerned that our First Minister doesn’t try to compete in this contest.
As First Minister she must focus on the here and now and tell us about the independence process – for time, as everybody knows, is against us. She has clearly indicated her awareness of the pressure of the clock. There is no time for a People’s Vote. PM May’s take-it-or-leave-it deal comes back to the Commons in the new year, the rescheduled meaningful vote fails some time in mid-January, then there’s 21 days for the constitutional nicety to present an alternative. And yes, you can bet your shirt that they will play procedural games to Olympic standard. That’s two months and counting for the crazies of the Great British Brexiteers faction to step up pressure on a lame duck Prime Minister.
Then there will be the long-winded and tortuous argument of the wording of the People’s Vote and the terms for recording the distinct Scottish constituency. In the intervening months it appears that there was nobody in Whitehall who could advise Queen Betty that she might well be heading for a constitutional minefield and in breach of the Treaty of Union with her assent to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Funny how the Scottish Continuity Bill, within the competence of the Scottish Parliament, was masterfully sidelined by the English establishment so that the Tory thieves could play catch-up and seal the fate of our lost EU powers.
However much our First Minister may be motivated by principles of high diplomacy in her contortions on the Brexit stage, the perfidy of Albion with the Supreme Court judgment will be as nothing to the Little Englander backlash if our Joan of Arc is seen to have stolen their Brexit by dint of her efforts to bring about a People’s Vote. That really will be a significant and material change.
Why can’t we learn that playing the Westminster game with Westminster’s rules never works for Scotland. With respect, First Minister, we need a declaration of intent on our country’s future before the bells on December 31.
Iain Bruce
Nairn
READ MORE: Theresa May to condemn calls for a second Brexit referendum
I SHARE Joe Cowan’s dislike of the “B” word outlined in his letter in yesterday’s National. It was invented in the run-up to the European election and hopefully will die out once we attain our independence as a small European nation, hopefully within the EU.
Meanwhile it is much over-used, and I counted 53 instances of the word in The National in the course of a quick scan through the paper yesterday morning.
James Caldwell
Troon
READ MORE: Letters, December 17
ANDREW Quinn’s article “SNP MP compares Amber Rudd to ‘Grinch who stole Christmas from families’” highlighted that the £10 Christmas bonus was introduced in 1972 but neglected to mention it was introduced as a “one-off”.
The fact it has been maintained until now indicates the political difficulty in removing something once given, or perhaps more significantly the fear of being heavily criticised by the media and opposition parties because of the almost irresistible PR and political opportunities created by taking money away from pensioners and benefit recipients at Christmas time.
This opposition to its removal ignores the fact that the amount paid to the individual is negligible, and most recipients are unaware it is due, what it is for or why they receive it.
As the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) highlighted in our “Alternatives to Tax Rises” report published in September, the £10 Christmas bonus costs taxpayers £160 million a year that could probably be more usefully spent elsewhere. For example, it would pay for more than 300 new GPs to be recruited, trained and placed or more than 2,000 NHS nurses. When given the choice of more doctors and nurses or £10 a year, few are likely to opt for this cash payment.
Phil Hall
Head of Public Affairs and Public Policy, AAT
READ MORE: SNP MP compares Amber Rudd to 'Grinch who stole Christmas from families'
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