Boris Johnson didn't just say that devolution is a "disaster" - he also said it was Tony Blair's biggest "mistake", which implies it should never even have happened. So "mistake" is the word to emphasise for as long as Johnson - and the Tories - remain in power.
— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) November 19, 2020
How are the SNP failing to respect the results of two referendums?
— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) November 19, 2020
1997 devolution referendum: SNP respecting it, Tories trashing it.
2014 independence referendum: Scotland didn't become an independent country.
2016 EU referendum: Scotland voted Remain.
What's your point?
The best way of abolishing devolution is to replace it with independence.
ReplyDeleteTrue.
DeleteVery true.
DeleteWere you having a no sh1t Sherlock moment?
DeleteYou'll get no argument about that from me, Fairliered!It's time and past time to end devolution.
DeleteIf there's anything disastrous about devolution, it's because the Tory regimes at Westminster have made it so. Scotland's problems are real, but we're consistently denied the power and the money to start fixing them. Crap pensions, DWP sanctions, child poverty, areas of multiple deprivation, the shortage of decent, affordable housing - the list goes on and on. The latest outrages being Rishi Sunak denying us the right to borrow £6 billion on our own account to deal with the COVID crisis and its fallout as we see fit, instead forcing us to rely on crumbs from the Westminster table and forcing Westminster policies on us; the Infernal Market Bill; and Their plans to take over spending on previously devolved projects so they can stick Union flags on them.
Time to abolish devolution right enough - on our own terms, not because Westminster has shut down our democratic institutions, on the pretext set in its propaganda narrative that the Scottish Government is an incompetent failure and that Brexit demands uniformity, and has imposed direct rule through its Branch Office at Queen Elizabeth House in Edinburgh.
Can we have a republic too, please, and start naming our buildings after outstanding Scotswomen and Scotsmen rather than a relic of the Middle Ages?
A very good point James - mistake should be the emphasis.
ReplyDeleteof course the Britnat Blair's biggest mistake was the Iraq war.
Hi Stu, as someone vehemently opposed to 'gradualism / gradualists', were you against Salmond and his famous gradualist backing of devolution ahead of 1997? Did you believe devolution a 'mistake'?
DeleteFor goodness sake - in his recent article Campbell says the same as (at least one) of Skiers personalities - namely that Sturgeon is not responsible for the increase in the polls for independence.
ReplyDeleteSo does that make Skier a Unionist? Best ask one of his other personalities Inspector Cluseau the demon Unionist hunter.
I guess all the other Sturgeon fanboys are shouting - "oh yes she is responsible for the rise in the polls".
Me - Not sure but probably Brexit but just happy that is the case.
I've always said Sturgeon is not the reason Yes is ahead in the polls. Only unionists think like that.
DeleteIn that sense I'm happy for unionists to continuously attack Sturgeon, including with Salmondgate and transgate, as it will get them absolutely nowhere.
At the same time, it shows why the SNP getting rid of Sturgeon is pointless too. You only do that if you think you have got someone more popular/competent with an eye to elections. It won't change Yes support to change her. And even then who leads the SNP is a decision for all members, not top ranks or squabbling cliques.
Facundo is an obvious product of inbreeding/incest amongst Brit Tories much like England's Germanic Royals. Oh and there was the matter of a Referendum way back in 1978 that neither the Britisher Tories or the Britisher Labour Party respected.
ReplyDeleteThe UK Prime minister obsessing about the constitution in the middle of a pandemic is delusional!
ReplyDeleteSurely now is not the time.
To be fair, the one thing that the Tories and the SNP have always agreed on, since pre-1997, is that devolution was a stepping stone to Independence; it's just that one of them thought it was a good idea and the other thought it bad. It was only the power-hungry Lib/Lab who deluded themselves that this "parish council" half-way house was in any way sustainable.
ReplyDeleteWhile the usual suspects attacked salmond (and still are) for his gradulasim, calling devo a 'mistake/disaster', he and the party made the right choice.
DeleteDevolution has helped make Scots want to 'take back control', especially in the face of dramatic events which are very much outwith the powers of a devolved government to manage in the same way an independent country can.
Does anyone else suspect yougov are at it again like in 2014 with the Kelner effect
ReplyDeleteCan you explain please for us dumplings out here?
DeleteThanks
Good news.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55016893
Covid: Infection rates levelling off in England and Scotland
Current % of population with covid:
1.3% England
0.7% Northern Ireland
0.6% Scotland
0.6% Wales
You can see why the devolved nations don't want folk travelling back and forth to England at this time.
Two new letters dated 19/11/2020 made public today from Swinney to Fabiani and from Fabiani to Swinney.
ReplyDeleteSad to see the Scottish Government disrespecting the Scottish Parliament. You only get this type of delay, obfuscation, lies, hiding information and refusing to answer questions from people who have something to hide.
What got my goat was the SNP MP who claimed Johnson "doesn't understand" Scotland.
ReplyDeleteSlack talk! Of course he understands Scotland. He thinks he owns Scotland.
Only gullible "Scottish" Tories believe there is an actual union.
Only a monumental YES win next May will be enough to deliver the referendum.
BTW why oh why did we give up on the majority of WM seats constituting a mandate for independence?
A strategic blunder IMO.
As some comments have eluded too, it's key to remember that devolution is a unionist invention. Specifically, a Scottish unionist invention. Blair was in fact luke-warm on the whole thing; it was Scottish Labour and the Libs that pushed for it. Donald Dewar in particular.
ReplyDeleteThe SNP ended up agreeing to it as they saw devolution, rightly, as a stepping stone to indy. Even the Scottish Tories support it now; after all, it pays for more Tory MSP wages than it does MPs!
So when Johnson attacks devolution, he attacks Scottish unionism, not Scottish independence. The man in an imbecile trashing the UK in ways he cannot fathom because he's not British, but English. It's why British unionism, BBC included, is gunning for him.
#Patelgate is the latest salvo of British unionism against English nationalism; the latter is now tearing the UK apart.
Also worth noting that Johnson was attacking the international peace accord that was the Good Friday Agreement, an integral part of which was devolution to Stormont.
ReplyDeleteAm I the only person getting increasingly annoyed at this constant ascribing of devolution to Blair? Labour didn’t give us devolution, they had it rammed down their throats by the Scottish electorate, and Blair tried to neuter it by introducing a question of tax raising powers; although to be fair, most, but far from all, labour MPs supported it.
ReplyDelete