DURING the period leading up to the forming of the Scottish Parliament in later 1998/early 1999, I was more than a little disappointed to note that none of the Labour party’s big guns, eg Gordon Brown and Robin Cook, were interested in standing for election to the new body.
I presume they thought that the new assembly would be a Mickey Mouse outfit and thus be below their image of themselves. I always thought that if they were serious about the welfare of their fellow countrymen (and women and kids) they would have jumped at the chance to be part of this new endeavour.
If the SNP wish to raise the level of quality of the Scottish Government and bring in some new talent, would it be worthwhile considering bringing back some of our high-profile MPs or ex-MPs?
READ MORE: Why on earth do the SNP need to win yet another mandate?
I suggest existing MPs because, in reality, what has our presence at Westminster really achieved? No matter how many MPs we have at Westminster, the government of the day, whether it be Conservative or Labour, does not pay any heed to what they say. The same speeches/involvement could be made by others.
This inclusion of higher-profile politicians at Holyrood would give a higher profile for the various Scottish minister positions and show the whole country that we are serious about making an independent Scotland a success, that we are making Holyrood, not Westminster, our number one priority.
George McKnight
West Calder
LABOUR is in deep trouble England-wide. It realised that without MPs from Scotland it needs to gain impossible Tory seats like Jacob Rees-Mogg’s in order to win a General Election! In other words a Tory-Johnson hegemony if we remain in this Union.
It is revealing that Labour admits Scotland is simply seen as a source of future Labour lobby fodder in the Commons.
As the “branch” is spiralling downwards here, it seems Labour is truly busted and will be flushed away in the near future in England. In Scotland it is already in its death throes with one MP.
READ MORE: Former Labour candidate Faten Hameed defects to the Tories
The hopefuls for leadership post-Corbyn are scrabbling about with nothing fundamental to say. Rebecca Long-Bailey going to join the picket lines in every dispute the unions have with employers. Lisa Nandy just continues to engage mouth before engaging brain and should simply be ignored here.
It is obvious that the “branch” have nothing more to add to issues in Scotland except to await the “saviour” from the south. This has been going on now for at least a decade!
As the other two parties of the Precious Union flounder in “Unionison” with Labour, they have individually no comprehensive overarching policies on Scotland except muttering on about “broad shoulders” and the usual “too poor” spiel, which rolls off the tongue ad nauseam.
In an ironic way they simply do not need to exert themselves to gain any mandate. They accept whatever mandate arises from the English vote. They deny the right of their fellow Scots to have governments they have voted for.
They are spectres gaping into a void, in denial about the result of the December 2019 election in Scotland where the Unionist branches have ended up with a mere handful of MPs. They are going the way of the old communist parties in Eastern Europe, before the whole edifice crumbled. These parties were out of touch with their societies, aloof and dismissive of the potential within their respective populations and simply looked to Moscow for assistance, even to put down protest. The communist parties there trumpeted the broad shoulders of the the Union (of Soviet Socialist Republics) and of the manifest destiny inherent in this state of affairs. Such parallels can be seen in the Scotland in Union propaganda and in similar rhetoric from the decaying Unionist branches.
As the UK lurches under Johnsonian delusion of globality and Empire2, the reality is otherwise.
John Edgar
Kilmaurs
I WRITE to support the letter from Iain K of Dunoon (A London indy march would make the world pay attention to our movement, February 9).
We must make our presence and views felt in London. Peace and independence movements in USA and India had little effect until protests moved to the capital city. I suggest that after an initial march/protest, we need to keep up the momentum with regular protests.
READ MORE: A London indy march would make the world pay attention to our movement
It will be a bigger undertaking than any current protests. Saturdays are likely to suit most people but I have retired and would be ready to make the effort to protest with others also on Monday mornings. There would be considerable costs involved.
We have to be aware that the police in England learned how to disrupt protests from the 1980s onwards. However, I sense that there is much support for taking the fight to London.
John H
Aviemore
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