Sunday, June 30, 2019

Boris Johnson's hapless attempt to blackmail Scotland over Brexit

As we all know, a potentially decisive factor in the outcome of the first independence referendum was the message from the No campaign that "a Yes vote puts Scotland's EU membership at risk, while a No vote guarantees EU membership".  I wonder how the voters who were swayed by that cynical deception would have reacted if they'd been given a glimpse into the future and realised that, five years down the line, the prospective Prime Minister of the UK would be boasting about how he was going to take Scotland out of the EU against its will and make it so difficult for Scotland to rejoin that nobody would regard independence as a solution.  Basically, Boris Johnson is claiming that the prospect of adopting the Euro, joining the Schengen passport-free zone, and giving up "Scottish control of fisheries" means that Scottish voters will have little choice but to stick with the dubious delights of Brexit Britain, rather than trying to get back into the EU via independence.  There are, of course, just a few enormous snags with that line of argument...

An independent Scotland would not be forced to join the euro.  The Channel 4 "Fact Check" (sic) notoriously claimed a few weeks ago that it would be, which led to the comical spectacle of other Fact Check services demonstrating conclusively that the Channel 4 "Fact Check" was riddled with factual inaccuracies.  The theoretical requirement for new EU states to move to adopt the Euro in the long-term is a legal fiction and everyone in Brussels knows it.  No state can be forced to take the steps that would be necessary to switch currencies, as Sweden has been helpfully demonstrating in the sixteen years since it rejected Eurozone membership in a referendum.

An independent Scotland would not be required to join the Schengen Zone.  The UK and the Republic of Ireland are both current EU member states, but neither are members of Schengen and instead have their own Common Travel Area.  Whether or not there is a hard border after Brexit, Ireland is highly unlikely to be joining Schengen, and it's blindingly obvious that the EU would agree that any arrangement that is appropriate for Ireland as an EU state would also be appropriate for Scotland as an EU state.

Scotland will not "control fisheries" after Brexit.  Fisheries was one of the key devolved powers that was subject to the Westminster power-grab last year, so control will in fact lie in London or more likely in Brussels - because we know that Scottish fishing communities have always been regarded by London as expendable in any horse-trading with the EU.  Although it's true that many Scottish independence supporters do regard the Common Fisheries Policy as the worst thing about the EU, the reality is that we won't be "taking back control" of fisheries under Brexit, and that we'd therefore be sacrificing little by rejoining the EU as an independent state.

You see, that's the thing, Boris - if you want to blackmail a nation into submission, the threat actually has to be credible.

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2019 Scot Goes Pop Fundraiser: This is Day 31 of the fundraiser, and so far £8370 has been raised. That's 98% of the way towards the target figure of £8500. A million thanks to everyone who has donated so far, and I'm also extremely grateful to all the people who have left a kind comment with their donation. You can visit the fundraising page HERE.

28 comments:

  1. This imaginary fiction by you Nat sis is that Boris is threatening Scotland is another desperate attempt for your fascist cause.
    The demographics have not changed since the 2014 referendum. Most Catholics when urged by O'Brien did switch from Labour to the Nat si party in a blatent sectarian fashion. The British loyalists did not let this pass them by. We know your game and the politics.

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    1. Still shilling for the 77th old fruit. Must be embarrassing at the old regimental reunion. Blah blah blah Ulster, Blah blah blah Aden, Blah blah blah Iraq, Blah blah blah posting bilge on twatter and spamming Scottish websites. You literally have no shame.

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    2. And what the hell does religion have to do with it? Away and annoy someone else with your British Nationalist nonsense. (And it’s “blatant” - f7 = spellcheck - you should try it).

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    3. Ask Sootter Tory bus man who has donated to the Jock Nat si socialists!

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    4. The SNP are Socialists? You really have lost the plot...

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    5. Naw the Nat si plot is lost.

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    6. Are you actually right in the fukken heid?

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    7. Purse.
      Cordelia and purses.

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    8. She's probably forgotten to take her Antabuse again today.

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    9. Poor old GW, rabbiting on in his own inimitable style, could he be Terry Kelly in disguise. I wonder.

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  2. Why, oh why, Is joining the Euro seen as some sort of a threat?

    I live in a country that has the advantage of using the Euro but my fellow English speaking chums still refer to "the Quid", as in we went to such-and-such a restaurant and the bill, including drinks, was only so many "quid". It is a unit of money only and the only people who gain from dissing said currency are those who make money from manipulating currency prices. Thieves the lot of them!

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    1. What about abandoning the euro for the GBP or my preference the US Dollar. It would be great to have our Queen on the US Dollar.

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    2. Purse.
      Cordelia and purses.

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    3. I agree. I dont see using the Euro as any kind of threat, quite the opposite. I'd be happy to see it adoped in Scotland.

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  3. Wee Kylie is belting it out in Glastonbury. Lots of Scots in the crowd with their English friends.

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    1. "Lots of pro-independence Remain voting Scots in the crowd with their remain voting English friends."

      Based on current voting patterns.

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    2. The alleged current Nat si voting pattern does not supercede the actual real vote that was to leave the fascist EU.

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    3. Wait, isn't Kylie anti-English? She's from Australia. It used to be part of Britain until it went independent.

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    4. It's like a sea of remainers stretching as far as the eye can see.

      They should call it 'Remainstonbury'.

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    5. In your racist mind anyone who is not English is anti English.

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    6. Purse.
      Cordelia and purses.

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    7. Is Cordelia still a lesbian or has she moved on to a new ID?
      Do we know what meds she is on?
      Why does she call herself GWC - is it a homage to Gemma Collins off TOWIE?

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    8. 1. Cordelia/GWC hasn't sad she is no longer a lesbian.
      2. Her meds are her own business.
      3. GWC seems to be an amalgam of G W Bush and Gemma Collins. Not sure, maybe Grand Woman Cordelia.

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    9. I am AC/DC and dress for any occasion.

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  5. I do wonder if Boris is actually as delusional as the Scot goes Pop! troll ... in other words, does he believe what he said, or was it intended for Conservative Party members in Englandland and here in Jockshire who will have to vote for him if he is to become Head Boy?

    It seems to me that it was more designed to reassure fearful Tory Party types that he's a "safe pair of hands" when it comes to Scotland because he's not having any truck with this silly separatist nonsense these Jockanese keep coming out with, they have no idea, do they, watch me laugh ha-ha-ha.

    If he believes it, though: then he has not learned his brief (not surprising, it the man is as bone idle as rumoured), has no understanding of things Scottish (which is hardly news to us independentistas), and is disturbingly like Trump in his politics and his behaviour.

    The only thing I can think of to say in his favour is that he is the Man Most Likely To end the Union, one way or another, whether he does it himself - conceivable, less bothersome to him than getting bogged down in details - or ensures by his behaviour that Yes will win this time because of the desire of normal people to put as much distance between him and them as possible.

    "The only people who like Boris are people who do not know him" - I think it was Max Hastings who said that, I may be wrong.

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    1. What matters is he gets us out of the EU then he can go into the dustbin of history.

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  6. With regards to Schengen:

    http://www.efta.int/sites/default/files/documents/advisory-bodies/parliamentary-committee/jpc-resolutions/20May2003EnlargementFutureofEurope.pdf

    As the adopted resolution notes:

    Quote; "7. Considers that all acceding countries should join the Schengen area as soon as possible; also considers, however, that this should result in the building of bridges with neighbors, not fencing them off”; Unquote.

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