IN reply to George McKnight (Letters, February 10), his idea is a non-starter. When Keir Hardie set up the Labour party, his first major recruit was Ramsay MacDonald, the then chairman of one of the Scottish independence parties that merged to form the SNP. The then fledgling Labour Party made it part of their constitution to have home rule for Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland. This remained as part of the Labour constitution until the Tony Blair era.
Anytime there looks as if there is a demand for independence, this same piece of Home Rule nonsense gets rolled out in the hope that we will fall over ourselves and swallow it hook, line and sinker. It’s been done to death over the last century and how many times have Labour been in power since then and not introduced it, no matter how big a majority they had?
READ: Letters: Here’s how Boris Johnson could show we are in a union of equals
We even were told we had to get a 40% majority by the Labour party in the 1970s. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s if you mentioned independence in front of any Labour Party member, your were told: “C’mon doon tae the Labour Party Club and we’ll explain it a’ tae ye!”
None of the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats or the Tories wants us to have independence. And they don’t want an English Parliament either. Jacob Rees-Mogg wouldn’t be able to lord it over the whole of the front bench on national television; the self-appointed Minister for the Union wouldn’t be able to play games on his phone on television either and tell us to get on with the day job from the despatch box!
And with England having about 80% of the electorate, they would be wanting that amount of MPs in a UK Parliament and we would be in the very same position as we are today and would have an English dictatorial regime. We would just be treated as second-class, the Welsh and Northern Ireland would just be treated as add-ons to be overridden at will by the English. The LibDems would continue to mention federalism to whomever would listen and nobody would pay them any attention because the system isn’t going to work in the United Kingdom because of the numbers and national identities of the home nations.
READ MORE: BBC's Labour leadership debate IGNORES only question asked on Scotland
You can try selling a proportional representation situation to the English, but they aren’t going to accept it as they look at the size of their electorate and see an inbuilt majority from whatever angle you look at it. Prior to devolution we had 72 MPs, and now your correspondent wants us to drop to 10 MPs. If we couldn’t get what we wanted with 72 MPs and if we can’t get what we want today with 59 MPs, we will never get it with 10 MPs.
What we want and need is a clean break from Westminster and England dictating terms, and that means only one thing, independence. Let England resolve their own problems and let us get on with getting our independence back and sitting at the top table to negotiate we need and want.
Alexander Potts
Kilmarnock
WELL done to The National for yesterday’s Fact Check on the Tory claim that every public service is falling apart in Scotland. It is extremely useful for independence supporters to have this information so that we can share it online and in conversation with friends, family and work colleagues.
READ MORE: Fact Check: Jackson Carlaw's dubious claims go under the spotlight
We have a massive supporter base in favour of independence and we need to use all of them to promote the benefits of independence and to slay the BritNat myths such as the current attempt to portray failing public services in Scotland. However, what would also help would be if every independence supporter who appears in the media (primarily MPs and MSPs) use these opportunities to discredit the claims by Tories (blue, red and yellow) rather than getting bogged down in the minutiae of the latest attacks on independence.
Cllr Kenny MacLaren
Paisley
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel