Scottish independence referendum? What John Swinney and the SNP would do if they were true patriots
The best Scotland can hope for is that John Swinney’s independence motion was purely performative
“... emphatic democratic mandate... decisions about Scotland’s future... best taken in Scotland... a referendum on Scottish independence.” John Swinney’s motion to the Scottish Parliament, on day one of the new session as promised, said all the usual stuff we’ve been hearing from the SNP for the best part of two decades.
However, even dogs in the street know what the actual outcome will be of this latest request to Westminster for permission to hold a second referendum. Nothing. If Labour ministers respond at all, they will simply refuse.
There may be a majority of MSPs who support independence, but that’s a very different thing to the majority of voters. Unless support for independence rises to more like 60 per cent and stays there for a sustained period, unionist politicians will simply not feel the level of pressure that would require them to make a concession.
The lesson of Brexit
Instead of getting on with the business of government, the SNP appear to want to railroad the UK Government into allowing a vote in the hope that they might be able to get just over 50 per cent backing on a particular day – hardly the basis for a new nation. And, as we know from last time, even if they lose, this wouldn’t matter, to them at least, as they would simply try again a few years later.
The problem – demonstrated during the Brexit debate and the tortuous negotiations which followed – is that such constitutional wrangling has serious and damaging effects on government. Some may think this doesn’t matter but it really, really does.
An effective government that sets about a country’s problems can make a substantial difference. In contrast, the SNP’s woeful track record could provide the world with an instructive case study of what happens when minds are elsewhere and eyes are “off the ball”, to quote Nicola Sturgeon’s infamous remark about the shocking number of drug deaths.
The best we can hope for is that, after voting performatively on Swinney’s pointless independence motion, ministers will knuckle down to the hard work of fixing the country’s foundations and boosting the economy. That is what true patriots would do, and we expect no less.
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