The Speaker's lies are straight out of the Unionist playbook

AS we have all learned to our cost, during the Scottish independence referendum campaign of 2014, the parties of the British state fell over themselves to make all sorts of sweet promises to the people of Scotland in return for a vote against independence.

We were going to get federalism. We were assured that the powers of the Scottish Parliament would forever be legally protected from potential meddling by a government in Westminster.

There was going to be a whole slew of additional powers for Holyrood, and a 'respect agenda' guaranteeing that Scotland would be listened to and consulted as an equal partner in a union of nations.

Of course, the second that the votes were counted and the result was clear, all those fine promises evaporated like yellow snow off a dyke, leaving behind nothing but the foul stench of British nationalist perfidy. It was all so sadly predictable.

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The British parties will promise Scotland the earth when their power is threatened or there is something that they want, but the second that they have got what they wanted and Scotland is left with no leverage, it's back to dismissive contempt as usual.

We saw something similar during the EU referendum in 2016 when a wheen of leave-supporting Tories toured Scotland promising all sorts of goodies for Scotland in return for a vote to leave the EU.

The oleaginous Michael Gove dropped heavy hints that after Brexit the Scottish Parliament could be given control of aspects of immigration policy. Yet the moment that the leave vote was in the bag, heavily remain-voting Scotland was shut out of any influence over the form that Brexit was going to take.

And far from giving the Scottish Parliament extra powers, the Conservatives seized on Brexit as an excuse to embark on an all out assault on the powers of the Scottish Parliament.

Now, it has happened again.

Stephen Flynn in the House of Commons

Last week, in a desperate effort to save his job, Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle promised that the SNP could use a Section 24 order in order to get another debate on a ceasefire in Gaza after Hoyle did Keir Starmer a huge favour by breaking Commons convention in order to spike the SNP's motion on a ceasefire in the beleaguered territory, which the House had been due to debate.

Had the motion gone ahead as it rightfully ought to have done, it would have proven severely embarrassing for the Labour leader as a significant number of his MPs, including members of his frontbench team, were set to rebel over Starmer's refusal to unequivocally condemn Israeli war crimes in Gaza or to make a clear and unqualified call for an immediate ceasefire.

It was set to be the biggest rebellion Starmer had ever faced in the four lying years of his leadership.

However, thanks to Hoyle breaking convention and spiking the SNP motion, Starmer's face was saved to lie again another day.

Hoyle's decision was met with justifiable outrage and for a while it looked as though Hoyle's job was on the line.

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In an effort to shore up support, Hoyle promised the SNP that they could make use of a standing order 24 to get another debate on a ceasefire in Gaza.

Hoyle said: "I would say that we can have an SO24 (Standing Order 24) to get an immediate debate because the debate is so important to this House."

Yet by Monday, when moves to oust Hoyle had petered out, the Speaker made a perfunctory announcement to say that he had decided after all not to allow the debate.

His position was secure and he felt he no longer had any need to pay heed to the anger of the SNP. It's the Vow and the Brexit vote all over again.

This is all part and parcel of the British nationalist playbook when it comes to Scotland. Should Scotland be foolish enough not to return the SNP as the largest party in terms of Scottish MPs at the next General Election, Westminster will be convinced that the political fangs of Scottish independence have been drawn and we will be in for this sort of contempt on steroids.

The McCrone report and its enraging legacy

The classic example of Westminster contempt for Scotland is the McCrone report, which was written almost 50 years ago and kept secret for many decades.

The report detailed how if Scotland had become independent in the late 1970s it would have become one of the richest countries in Europe on the back of the oil and gas reserves in Scottish waters and could have built up a sovereign wealth fund worth over a trillion dollars like Norway has done.

Instead, we got Thatcherism, the rape of Scotland's natural wealth, and the destruction of Scottish communities while Scotland's wealth was syphoned off into the development of the London Docklands.

The McCrone report remains relevant today because Westminster is poised to pull a similar trick on Scotland's vast potential for renewable energy. The British nationalist parties lied to Scotland about its wealth in the 1970s and 1980s.

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They are still lying to us to this day.

What happened with oil and gas in the 70s and 80s is happening with renewable energy now.

Simon Forrest, the CEO and founder of tidal turbines firm Nova Innovations said "Westminster is squarely to blame" for Scotland being “asset-stripped” for its energy sector, and called on the Scottish Government to "up its game" if it wanted Scots to reap the benefits of the country's world-class renewables potential.

First Minister Humza Yousaf said: "The infamous McCrone report’s lessons remain “every bit as relevant today” as when they tipped off the UK Government to the awesome potential of Scotland’s oil reserves.

The First Minister added that the report highlighted "the price of Scotland not being an independent country."