THE “unbritaining” of GB continues apace. Yet, one must wonder how long this metamorphosis will take. The Tory press and the Tory government seem to be in a delusional, faux jingoistic revelry at present. The “jester” stands up in the Commons and makes quips, refusing to answer in detail, which he can do with impunity because of the Tory English majority. The cudgels will come off through the power grab after December 31 as there will be no holds barred in centralising power again.
The US experience from the 18th century should be instructive. The blame for US independence was put on the monarch of the day, but it was the taxation power grab back by Westminster from the colonial assemblies – think “devolved legislatures” – in the US which gradually lit the fuse.
The same gung-ho psyche is beginning to come to the surface here. Johnson’s attack on devolution, Rees-Mogg’s dream to restore the (unwritten) constitution and the rampant chumocracy, along with UK ministers’ increasingly autocratic decisions are disturbing.
In Scotland, the attack on Holyrood reveals that Labour and the LibDems, the two Unionist “upholders” of the devolved settlement, are showing either timidity in the face of the Tory onslaught or are willing to see Holyrood downgraded as they see this as an attack on the SNP, not on elected government of Scotland! Therein lies their mistake. It also reveals an underlying feeling that they know they are not going to take over in Holyrood in the immediate term.
They fail to see that they are equally despised by their Tory fellow Unionists. And so they are festering in a no man’s land, hoping for the best.
Their kamikaze-reverence for the Union will be their continued demise, however, and they are blind to the dilemma they are in.
They cling to a vague hope of the Vow 2, when in reality England does not show any inclination to federate within itself, let alone across the UK. The old relics such as Brown
and others seem to believe their own political immortality and fail to see their days and nostrums are passé!
The test of GB cohesion among the population here, and the economic captains of industry and commerce, will be broken with the chaos at macro and micro level after December 31 irrespective of deal, “low deal” or No Deal.
READ MORE: UK goes ahead with Internal Market Bill without consent from Wales or Scotland
The worries being expressed now by industry across the piste are rather late in coming. They are answered by the totemic utterance that we will have full control of our most important, overarching resource: fish.
In perspective, we cannot all relearn and relocate to fish. Without being pejorative, compared to our economic gross product it is a minnow.
If the macro planners do not evolve an integrated plan relative to all economic sectors, then fishing communities will also decline.
The present UK Government is not interested in the country, it is only aiming to enrich its chums and hangers-on and retain total power.
Scotland rejected at the last election totally the Tories and the Union. Let the band of non-Tory “Unionists” at Holyrood realise that their future and our future lies in leaving the Union.
Northern Ireland is already separated by an internal border which will become an international border between itself and England, and we need to follow on.
If not, then await the “destruction” or “Balkanisation” of Scotland ruled over by a Great England.
John Edgar
Kilmaurs
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