I’VE just written to my SNP MP Peter Grant along the following lines. Maybe if we all did the same, then the SNP might either start doing something about achieving independence or come out and honestly tell us they don’t really want it.
When, or even if, we ever get a vote on it, I’ll definitely vote for indy, but I think the SNP may well be working towards the “once in a generation” thing.
Here’s a rough facsimile of my letter.
“I have been a strong advocate of independence and an SNP supporter for several years now. But I am now seriously considering voting Green or perhaps SSP with both votes at the next election.
“I am not the only one. I am still involved with Yes activists in this region and know of many who are beginning to doubt that the SNP actually want independence. I know of at least three other people who until now have supported the SNP but are also intending changing their voting pattern. One of them has resigned from the SNP in disgust.
“The reason this is happening has been building up over recent years where we have seen the SNP refuse to do anything about independence other than ask us to wait until maybe next year, or maybe the year after, for them to seek a Section 30 order.
“Well, everybody except those at the top of the SNP party (who still insist Boris will have to give us a Section 30 order as, otherwise, his position will be intolerable) is well aware that they are not going to get a Section 30 order. Boris isn’t worried about whether or not his situation is intolerable. This is a man who has already passed parliamentary acts to make it legal for him to break the law – but the SNP executive committee still think they can negotiate with him.
“Both New Zealand and Canada have realised that they can’t trust him and have placed any future trade deal with their respective countries in doubt. Even a trade deal with the USA will not be forthcoming in the present circumstances, due to their support for the Good Friday Agreement.
“Boris doesn’t care. He’s going to make a lot of money from his hedge fund manager friends who are just waiting for the British economy, and thereafter the Scottish economy, to fall apart. Then they will load their bank accounts with millions of pounds at the tax payer’s expense.
“The straw that has finally broken the camel’s back for me is the SNP decision, as reported in Saturday’s National, to not even discuss an alternative route to independence. They should be prepared to at least discuss every possible means of achieving independence, instead of insisting upon a strategy that is seriously flawed.
“Or, maybe, as I stated in the first paragraph, they don’t really want independence. After all, with independence, they would have some 50-odd MPs out of work. Perhaps they just want to string us all along and remain nice and comfy in their present cushy situations.
“Well, to remain in those situations, they need to keep votes, and they have just lost mine and, at the very least, the three others I know about locally. They have to ask themselves the question, “how many others are there out there who are thinking the same way?”
“It’s somewhat ironic that this report should appear in the same issue as yet another poll suggesting a 56% support for independence. If they don’t do something very soon, they will lose that support as quickly as they have gained it. I believe it’s time to strike while the iron is hot and not wait until it gets cold again.
“As Ruth Wishart implied in a recent article, ‘It’s time to realise that the peasants are becoming impatient and starting to revolt’.”
Charlie Kerr
Glenrothes
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