I HAVE been considering what can be done as regards the independence campaign over the next while, as it seems to me there are some very challenging ideas being touted about in The National and on social media at the moment.
I am concerned that even though the latest opinion polls have been so positive for the SNP, we are not taking advantage of this encouraging situation.
As we know, favourable opinion polls can just as easily disappear like snaw aff a dyke!
Independence is the primary reason we are involved in politics at all.
We have our leader Nicola Sturgeon mainly and superbly dealing with this pandemic crisis and rightly getting praise for her handling of it here in Scotland. That means we need someone to lead in the refocusing of the party and country going forward. That person should be SNP leader at Westminster, MP Ian Blackford.
Blackford is doing a very good job in this lockdown situation, but I do think it is now time to be much more vocal about our primary aim of independence. I have heard him say that he wants to get consensus in Parliament to delay Brexit beyond December 31 this year. That is all very well, and indeed if it happens we as a country will deal with that, but we in Scotland and the SNP MPs can do nothing about that as it is not in our gift, so we should not even attempt to get involved.
Delay or extension of Brexit is entirely a Tory Government problem, and I am certain that because England voted Leave, and more recently in December voted massively for the Tories, they will leave with or without a deal with the EU. Scotland will just have to lump it!
However, there will be all sorts of problems for them regarding Ireland which will have to be concluded before then. We can make the most of this when NI gets a deal, is in the EU, and Scotland is being denied that right. The UK Government now admits that there will be border checks between the UK and NI but none between NI and Eire. This in effect makes NI no longer a part of the UK.
So what do we do between now and Brexit day? We highlight and campaign for what we voted for in the EU referendum. What Scotland has overwhelmingly voted for since then, and particularly most recently in December when all the Unionist parties in Scotland campaigned specifically for a No referendum on independence and were soundly defeated.
We must have a roadmap as we cannot keep asking people to vote for a referendum over and over again which is always then denied by the UK Government.
As soon as Brexit takes place, we must immediately demand that we are given the right to hold a referendum at a time to suit us. If the answer is No again we make the election for Holyrood in May – with an overall victory for the SNP and other parties standing on a platform for independence – our mandate to negotiate for independence.
There are only just more than six months until Brexit and, as the latest opinion polls have shown that the door to independence is half-open, so to speak, it is imperative that we use all our efforts now to open that door fully while using the hinge of Brexit as the mechanism.
I hope some of what I have said gives the party, led by Nicola Sturgeon in Holyrood and Ian Blackford MP at Westminster, food for thought.
Just to recap, in the run-up to Brexit please forget about being in Westminster, apart from occasionally if really required.
Concentrate all the MPs’ efforts, other than on their constituents, on the way forward to the Holyrood election. If we have to go for a yet another mandate in Holyrood, rather than accepting the refused referendum, get the EU, UN and all other countries we can to garner their support. Include in this the huge Scottish diaspora that supports us in so many other countries throughout the world.
Interestingly, just the other day the Hungarian MEP Istvan Ujhelyi pondered the possibility of Scotland breaking free of the “prison of Great Britain”. “What are the chances for independent Scotland to join the European Union?” he asked.
In response, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said: “Any European State, which respects and promotes the values of the EU, may apply to become a member of the Union.”
This leaves a door firmly open for Scotland.
It’s time to push on it and give us, the many independence supporters and campaigners, a positive roadmap ahead with Scotland calling the shots.
Gavin Scott Moncrieff
Isle of Eigg
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