Sunday, May 21, 2023

The first clause in any proper independence Code of Conduct should be a belief in democratic self-determination, meaning that a majority of 50% + 1 (not 55% and certainly not 60%) is sufficient for Scotland to become an independent country

We're invited to believe that the SNP under the new regime are preocuppied with one over-riding question: how do we get independence over the winning line? To which their answer appears to be: "move the winning line as far away as possible, ideally to Mars".  I said a few weeks ago that if Humza Yousaf was arguing that the simple majority defined as the winning line in the 2014 referendum was no longer enough in the SNPs opinion for Scotland to become an independent country, then we needed the new supermajority target to be explicitly defined, so there couldn't be constant shifting of the goalposts no matter how high Yes support rises. Someone on Twitter disagreed with me, suggesting that if the SNP were stupid enough to publicly set a 60% target, that could prove to be as big a hostage to fortune as the "once in a generation" line.  Well, for better or worse, Mairi McAllan has gone and done it - she said on Question Time the other night that 55-60% support was required if we're ever going to get anywhere, and as far as I'm aware that's the first time anyone speaking on behalf of the SNP has ever gone on record with the barking mad and utterly unattainable 60% figure (although it's occasionally been rumoured for years as an unofficial target).  On balance I think Ms McAllan has done us all a favour, because it's shocked quite a few people who were previously "giving Humza a chance" into realising that he's not remotely serious about winning independence in any circumstances that will ever exist in the real world, and that his departure as leader is thus highly likely to be a prerequisite for independence.

Even worse, of course, Ms McAllan was not even talking about 55-60% support in official votes at the ballot box but instead in opinion polls, which effectively contracts out any exercise of Scotland's right to self-determination to mostly London-based opinion polling firms, many of which have a track record of either conscious or subconscious bias against Scottish independence.  It's quite a shock to the system to realise that when Adam Tomkins used to lecture the SNP on how it needed to stop trying to win independence via a simple majority at the ballot box, and instead concentrate on building up a sustained supermajority in YouGov polls, the Yousaf faction weren't furious at the anti-democratic outrage they were being confronted with, but were actually saying "GREAT POINT, ADAM" and enthusiastically taking notes.

There's been a lot of talk recently about a Code of Conduct that anyone who wants to be part of the officially recognised independence movement must adhere to.  In my view, any such Code should consist of the following three main points - 

1) Everyone must accept the principle of democratic self-determination, ie. that a simple majority of 50% + 1 is sufficient for Scotland to become an independent country.  If you think that Scotland should be forced to remain in the UK if 59% support independence and only 41% oppose it, then it's debatable whether you even believe in independence at all, but you most certainly don't believe in democratic self-determination, which is supposed to be the cornerstone of civic nationalism.

2) Everyone must accept that democracy and Scottish democratic self-determination happens at the ballot box, not via YouGov polls.  (For people who keep chucking around the largely meaningless phrase "legally-binding", answer me this: what the hell is legally binding about a YouGov poll?  Since when did YouGov become part of the constitution?)

3) Everyone must accept that independence is not less important than other unrelated issues, and that differing views on those other issues are thus no bar to inclusion within the movement.  Of course there are a few exceptions to that general rule - nobody should be expected to work with far-right extremists, even if they support independence.  But where views are mainstream, are legitimately held by a significant section of the population, and are deemed by the courts to be "worthy of respect within a democratic society" (most obviously gender critical views), there should be no question whatsoever of anyone being excluded on that basis.  

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I launched the Scot Goes Pop fundraiser for 2023 a couple of weeks ago, and the running total has now passed £1200.  The target figure is £8500, however, so there's still quite some distance to travel.  If you'd like to help Scot Goes Pop continue by making a donation, please click HERE.  Many thanks to everyone who has donated so far.

15 comments:

  1. On Question Time when it was put to McAllan that the SNP had dropped in the polls by a considerable amount McAllan dismissed the value of polls saying "polls are polls".
    On the same Question Time McAllan states that polls must determine whether or not independence is feasible. She says yes must be in the region of 55-60%.

    This is an SNP Cabinet minister in the Scottish government. One minute polls are worthless next minute she says they are essential for Scottish independence. McAllan is an embarrassment and the rest of them are useless betrayers of the independence cause.

    The EU leave vote did not make the 55% benchmark so why should an independence vote. The SNP politicians should be making this very point not doing the Britnats work for them by actively raising the bar for a yes vote. So why are the SNP raising the bar - they don't want independence - thats why.

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    1. Mairi McAllan - the First Minion's minion.

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  2. Agree with you 100% on this James.

    Under the Westminster system 50% + 1 of the seats in Parliament are enough to get anything through, sending troops to war, launching nukes, even the dissolution of the UK itself. That's always been the game we should always have played.

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  3. Code of Conduct:

    1. Affirm that Sex is as mutable as Gender and all debate in this matter is equal to Holocaust denial (or even support for Palestine, ugh!).
    2. Insinuate at every opportunity that Salmond is a criminal and the legal justice system must be changed to avenge his verdict.
    3. Rally around Nicola at every time of need. What she did is Right because she did it, QED. Burn the heretics!
    4. Never under any circumstances either attend a march for independence. Those footsoldier plebs are despicable neo nazi filth. They even revel in the label “Nationalists” would you believe! You should hear their thicko accents. They couldn’t even book an Uber to Stirling university, let alone get a place in Queer Studies.
    5. And absolutely never EVER lift a finger to bring Scotland an inch closer to Independence. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!? Can’t you smell the hors d’oeuvres? It’s bloody good slop, this quality nosh they tip off plates in London. Shut up and eat up!

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  4. For hundreds of years alchemists persisted trying to turn base metal to gold. “Just one more variation and it’ll work”. How long will it take NuSNP to formulate the magic wording for a successful S30 request?
    There ain’t no magic!

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    1. What do you mean? Those political careers with generous holidays and gold standard pensions are the most practical kind of magic there is! The spell? Keeping half of Scotland entranced with a promise of transformation that shall never come.

      Indy is the carrot. Let us bite it and it’s gone. It only works if it remains forever just out of reach.

      So tantalising! So very tasty! Just keep on pulling this GravyBus, plebs. Work it. We’ll have Indy tomorrow, just like yesterday!

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  5. Great post, James.

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  6. Agreed with all of that, but I have an issue with "nobody should be expected to work with far-right extremists, even if they support independence". My only issue with this is, who is defining what is "far-right"? I'm gender critical and, in the eyes of many, that makes me "far-right". They are very wrong, of course, but it's still an issue if you want to have a code of conduct.

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    1. True. It's a term that's used too often by many to describe people they don't agree with. We need to inject some tolerance into our political discourse these days However, in all honest y I don't think that there are many far right independence supporters.

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    2. But there are some. They're a tiny minority but they do turn up at marches.

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    3. Irish Skier seems to think the Alba party is a right wing party with conservative views. The WGD numpty says:- " ..... a slightly right of centre small c conservative (Alba )." These WGD numpties never get anything right and this is another example.

      There is nothing right wing about respecting science.

      The code of conduct stuff is just the SNP trying to keep control. The SNP should take a long hard look at its own conduct before trying to impose anything on others eg where is the ring fenced £600k?

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  7. Yousaf has now done a Wishart. Yousaf stated on many occasions during the leadership election that a de facto referendum was not his cup of tea. Now he says it is on the table for discussion at the special conference in June. Yousaf must be dizzy with all the u turns he has been doing since he was elected but surprise surprise the GRR legal challenge is still going ahead.

    On a positive note at least he has had the good sense to say that the guy in the borders who dressed up as a woman, abducted a child, held her hostage and abused her will serve his sentence in a male prison. None of Sturgeon's stuttering nonsense about him being a woman. Has Robison apologised yet for saying this type of crime never happens. Robison - what a diddy. SNP leadership - totally useless.

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  8. HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

    Shock horror the big dug himself Paul Kavanagh criticises a senior SNP politician. Kavanagh quite rightly says that Keith Brown Deputy leader of the SNP was wrong to refer to a legally binding referendum being discussed at the independence convention. I mean even WGD numpty Golfnut knew that was nonsense but we have the deputy leader of the snp spouting such rubbish.
    Kavanagh says:- " ...there can be no such thing as a legally binding referendum, and as such Keith Brown's choice of phrasing was unfortunate. " Unfortunate was it - we are expected to believe people like Brown can deliver independence when they don't know what they are talking about. SNP = sad joke.

    The big dug then reverts to type with this final comment in his article:- " We are now making progress toward the SNP having a clear strategy for obtaining a lawful vote on Scottish independence, and despite the usual chorus of criticism that is to be welcomed."

    So after 9 years of Kavanagh telling his readers all is well with Sturgeon/SNP delivering a referendum year after year etc etc he now punts making progress on a clear strategy for independence as a positive and moans about people criticising this utter shambles.

    CLEAR STRATEGY 😂😂😂😂😂

    Nine years and no strategy is the SNP way. Nine years and deliberate changing all the time of what is to happen re independence is the SNP way. WGD numpties must be pining for the good old days when they could comfort themselves with the Sturgeon has a secret master plan mindset. Some even think Sturgeon resigning is all part of her secret master plan and she will rise like an independence Phoenix and lead Scotland to independence. Kavanagh has played his part in this time wasting and continues to do so. If Kavanagh supports independence then it cannot be in his own lifetime.

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    1. Nicola is Q! Knew it! Praise the dug’s ghost, Indy and jam tomorrow here we come! So much jam. It’ll be braw!

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