Monday, January 14, 2019

Having just destroyed the devolution settlement, Nebulous Theresa makes bizarre claim that it would be unthinkable for Westminster to destroy the devolution settlement

Theresa May has got some nerve.  I know that as statements of the obvious go, that's right up there with "the Pope is a Catholic" and "Rory Stewart is from The Middleland", but sometimes it just needs to be said all the same.  Her latest wheeze, intended to shame her own MPs into backing her God-awful Brexit deal, must rank as some kind of new high watermark in her relentless attempts to perfect the art of hypocrisy -

"Imagine if an anti-devolution House of Commons had said to the people of Scotland or Wales that despite voting in favour of a devolved legislature, Parliament knew better and would overrule them. Or else force them to vote again."

Luckily we don't have to imagine such an extraordinary state of affairs. In a referendum held in March 1979, the people of Scotland voted in favour of a devolved legislature by 52% to 48% - EXACTLY the same margin by which the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in June 2016.  A Conservative-dominated, anti-devolution parliament under Margaret Thatcher decided it knew better than the people of Scotland, and overruled them.  No devolved legislature was set up - an act of utter, contemptuous defiance of a democratic referendum result.

Even the Labour party under Tony Blair insisted that Scotland couldn't have the legislature it had already voted for without being forced to vote on the subject again.  And that opportunity wasn't provided until some eighteen-and-a-half years after the first referendum result had been ignored. This time, Scotland voted by an overwhelming margin of 74% to 26% in favour of a devolved legislature that would have exclusive control over a range of policy areas such as agriculture and fisheries.

But two decades later, a Conservative-dominated, anti-devolution parliament under Theresa May decided it knew better than the people of Scotland, and overruled them.  Powers that the people had voted to give to the Scottish Parliament were taken back to Westminster without consent, driving a coach and horses through the democratic referendum result of 1997.  The Tories' cynicism was so overwhelming that they even legislated to retrospectively remove the Scottish Parliament's power to pass a bill it had only just passed.

In a nutshell, there have been two referendums in Scotland on devolution, and the results of both have been overturned either in whole or in part by the Westminster parliament.  What exactly is your point here, Theresa?

*  *  *

I'm coming round to the idea that yesterday's story about a possible parliamentary "coup" may have just been misinformation emanating from the Downing Street camp, intended to spook Brexiteers into backing the May deal.  That theory is certainly consistent with the current spin about "no Brexit being more likely than No Deal" - the calculation seems to be that if anyone saves May's bacon, it'll be Brexiteers rather than Remainers.

*  *  *

Scot Goes Pop fundraiser: If you'd like to help this blog continue during what could be an epic few months ahead, just a reminder that last year's fundraiser is still very much open for donations, and hasn't reached the target figure yet.

23 comments:

  1. You can see why world leaders / other countries don't trust the UK; whether it be welching on international peace deals or referendum/election results, the UK government are lying, untrustworthy sacks of shit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. the whole things a scam In 2014, Steve Bannon – then executive chairman of the “alt-right” news network Breitbart – was Wylie’s boss. And Robert Mercer, the secretive US hedge-fund billionaire and Republican donor, was Cambridge Analytica’s investor. And the idea they bought into was to bring big data and social media to an established military methodology – “information operations” – then turn it on the US electorate.



    It was Wylie who came up with that idea and oversaw its realisation. And it was Wylie who, last spring, became my source. In May 2017, I wrote an article headlined “The great British Brexit robbery”, which set out a skein of threads that linked Brexit to Trump to Russia. Wylie was one of a handful of individuals who provided the evidence behind it. I found him, via another Cambridge Analytica ex-employee, lying low in Canada: guilty, brooding, indignant, confused. “I haven’t talked about this to anyone,” he said at the time. And then he couldn’t stop talking.

    ReplyDelete
  3. By that time, Steve Bannon had become Trump’s chief strategist. Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, SCL, had won contracts with the US State Department and was pitching to the Pentagon, and Wylie was genuinely freaked out. “It’s insane,” he told me one night. “The company has created psychological profiles of 230 million Americans. And now they want to work with the Pentagon? It’s like Nixon on steroids.”

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just thinking that if Brexit for the whole UK was cancelled because Scotland didn't want it, this would even out the overruling of the 1979 devolution referendum, where England didn't want Scotland to have devolution.

    Seems very fair to me. Proper 'union of equals' stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It would be funny if in the end, May's deal is voted down by Scots Remain MPs + the DUP, leading to England's brexit being cancelled.

    In that case, if I was an English leaver, I'd want it voted on again, but as EVEL only.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please refrain from gein' that wumman any ideas whisoever...!

      Delete
    2. England and Wales Brexit, you really must stop leaving out Wales, unless you don't think they count enough to be mentioned, or just include them as part of England.

      Delete
    3. I'll leave out Wales if I like.

      England's brexit is England's brexit. Brexit in Wales belongs to the Welsh as far as I'm concerned. Up to them if they want to tag team it.

      These are two separate nations that voted for brexit and I'll discuss these individually because of this if I like.

      Note that Scotland has no direct constitutional relationship with Wales; Scotland is in union with England. That's the two names on the treaty of union. Ergo, Wales doesn't figure really in the Scotland-England union question.

      Delete
  6. Calm doon skier and turn tae 100-102 fM. There will be no brexit as the rich Liberal elites have set their agenda. The working class can eat grass.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not even teatime and Cordelia's uncorked already! Cheers, my dearie!

      Delete
    2. Sounds like Cordelia's on the 3rd bottle. Hic!

      Delete
    3. More Mcjocko gibberish from the Groundskeeper Willie Clown.

      Delete
    4. Donald Trump could build his wall using Cordelia's discarded corks.

      Delete
  7. "Whole thing is a scam".

    Unknown, please explain further.just what motivates Bannon, and May, and whoever else. Immensely wealthy people, and the wrong side of 60 years old. Is power such a demanding unrelenting drug ?

    May is Prime Minister of a country where people are going hungry, some are homeless and living on the streets, and she doggedly works for a EU leave deal the terms of which are not explained.There must be a reason for her/their behaviour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Take a trip to Paris and the Republic area and witness the largest queue for food in the EU every night. Macron the banker hides behind his armed forces.

      Delete
    2. Yummy yummikins

      Delete
  8. Wee Ned far the HutchietoonJanuary 14, 2019 at 10:44 PM

    Do you mean the République area or somewhere different?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jist doon ra Road fae ra Gare d Est.

      Delete
    2. Caustic Soda Blanket GirlJanuary 15, 2019 at 12:37 AM

      Gare De l'Est, I presume.

      Delete
    3. Your just a silly twit.

      Delete
    4. Cordelia's drunk again.
      Hic.

      Delete