AS we enter the closing stages of the Holyrood election and as the various parties continue to espouse the content of their various manifestos, I have been pondering on the various options available to the Scottish voting public. Apart from the take-it-or-leave-it ritual spending promises and guarantees for the future of the competing parties, it is clear that independence is the all-consuming preoccupation.
In this election an independence majority will be paramount, whether by the SNP alone, with the Greens in possible coalition or perhaps the supermajority of 80+ MSPs with the help of Alba. Therefore an independence referendum becomes inevitable. This statement of the obvious does, however, hide an important truth. While all pundits and political commentators ruminate critically and destructively on our independence aspirations, very few have concentrated on doing the same with the “Precious Union” alternative which awaits us all if a majority is not achieved.
READ MORE: Major new poll shows support for Scottish independence is neck and neck
I suffer enormous frustration as the opposition from ALL quarters, particularly the Tories and the right-wing press, “put the boot in” whenever the issue of Scottish independence is raised.
If you look critically at the “state of the Union” in 2021, you realise immediately that failure to achieve independence means the Scots as usual must accept the Union status quo and just get on with it! Scottish capitulation to the status quo has prevailed until now!
The UK Union is now at last under serious scrutiny like never before. It is no longer just the outcries and criticisms of the independence movement falling on the deaf ears of the Tory Unionists but finally critics within the Union establishment itself: constitutional experts, “soft Nos” and many others critical now of the more assertive Unionism, Unionism based more on law than consent and a destabilising Unionism (John Drummond).
In 2021 the assumption, as Ross and Johnson would have you believe, that you must vote Tory to save the Union is no longer a credible default position. Many are asking the question: what kind of Unionism are you asking me to support? Well, right now it is of the worst kind possible! We have the most right-wing, reactionary government ever elected. Its policies and strategies and attitude towards parliament, due process, the constitution and a total lack of empathy with the UK nations and sections of the population can be clearly seen through notorious parliamentary, prime ministerial and Cabinet policies and decisions.
READ MORE: EU leaders urged to say independent Scotland will be welcomed back
The treatment of Scotland since 2019 epitomises this right-wing British nationalist party. Brexit, the Internal Market Act, UK hubs, Section 30 denial, direct investment from London, Union Jackery throughout Scotland, funding local authorities directly, criticism of Scottish parliamentary and judicial institutions – all of this is a direct attack on our Holyrood parliament.
There are constant verbal attacks by Tory ministers including the PM “devolution is a disaster”; “big mistake by Blair” and daily abuse of Scottish MPs. The SNP must, in the time remaining, ensure that our electorate are told at every opportunity what awaits
Scotland and its people if we lose the opportunity to hold an independence referendum. There is no longer any comfortable UK Union default position – what awaits us is a post-Covid austerity Tory package lasting years, with Scotland at the end of the queue and devolution withering on the vine. Our FM, at her robust best on the Andrew Marr Show defending the credibility of independence, should follow this up with the total disaster that is sure to happen if we do not achieve independence and we remain in the UK once again a subject nation.
It’s time to expose the Tory UK Union for what it is! No place for our children and grandchildren to grow up in the future!
Dan Wood
Kirriemuir
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