Comments on: The SNP should cease to be after a 2014 Yes victory

By: Allan

Allan — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 20:06:59 +0000

Ah, but there are other things that the SNP can be doing to simplify their message. I agree that the “Yes Scotland” campaign has become bogged down in the minutiae of the exact wording of the question (“Yes” have also let “Better Together” away with painting Devo Max as Salmond’s saftey option). In reallity though, the key battleground of this referendum, as I have been saying for some time and Prof. John Curtis said this morning on GMS, will be the economy. Win the argument there, and I think that the SNP will go a long way to convincing people.

As for Mister Harry Cole, yes… He did a piece at “The Commentator” in January explaining why he now supported, ah… how did he put it… freedom for Scotland. Interesting piece. The fourth paragraph is something that the SNP could (and maybe should) be running with.

“Scotland is not well. This is the nation that gave us the telephone, the television, reason, logic, economics and whisky. Yet since the business interests of some three hundred Edinburgh merchants over-ruled the desires of the rest of a nation in 1707, Scotland has been in decline. The brain drain that saw enlightened Scots give America its magnificent constitution has never stopped.”

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/838/leaving_the_politics_aside_scotland_deserves_freedom

By: Peter A Bell

Peter A Bell — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:08:30 +0000

Type your comment here

null: But the vote will rest on answering practical questions. How much will it cost to run 2 DVLAs?

Why would Scotland require 2 DVLAs?

By: Cath

Cath — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 10:12:29 +0000

To be honest, I think the Unionist focus on the SNP and Salmond will come back to haunt them. The idea that independence is about being able to choose a government and being like any other, normal independent country is a very simple one that won’t be lost on most voters who give it any thought. The Yes campaign has barely started yet and there are two years to go. A huge amount can happen in that time. The SNP are a competent government pushing through fairly major reforms yet staying, amazingly, fairly popular even among those being reformed. Independence is one policy among many for them, as they also govern the country.

It’s hard to see where the constant SNP and Salmond bashing will succeed over the next 2 years when it’s so patently failed up until now. But with devo-max effectively out the picture and the Westminster parties all crowded onto the “no change; we’ll tell you what you can and can’t have and when” piece of ground, there is really no positive ground for them to take. I expect it will be a very, very nasty campaign from the no camp. But that in itself gives the SNP quite a few options. And ultimately, if Westminster – with a coalition of Labour-Tory-Lib Dem – win after a campaign like that, what will they have won, really? Certainly not a Scotland that will be happily ruled by them for long, and quite possibly a Scotland that will no longer vote Labour even for Westminster.

By: Alasdair Frew-Bell

Alasdair Frew-Bell — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 09:26:21 +0000

Although no SNP fan, the idea that the only large pro-sovereignty organization should indicate now a willingness to “disband” at the moment of success is truly flakey. The SNP is currently the locomotive of the cause and will still need to be around when, inshallah, the independence negotiations begin. By that time all the other political parties will most likely have formed pro-indie groups. While the rest will be packing their bags [in the delusion that England will welcome them with open arms] knowing full well they are politically redundant here. And that is the issue. Those that oppose independence, particularly in media, administration and public sector roles, are effectively gambling with their future. If they misjudge they are finished. However, as even with a nationalist government, the affirmatives are still the outsiders nothing much would change were the negatives to win. The sovereignty issue would not go away. The Parti Québecois shows how a good idea can survive a setback; and internal wrangling.
The emergence of a non-party political sovereignty colloquium in this country is a sign of maturity. The SNP by freely aligning itself with this will do more for the national cause than going for the self-destruct option proposed.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 09:10:28 +0000

Type your comment here

Allan: One point, the campaign to date has been anything but polite (“Newsnat” anyone?), unless you mean things are going to get a whole lot nastier and viceous (which is what I think will happen).

It will get vicious and nastier if the result looks close. At the moment it is quite cool although with Ian Davidson and Joan McAlpine around anything might happen. Think back to the disgsting anti-s28 campaign. When a modest proposal to allow teachers to even talk about homosexuality was opposed by a vicious Daily Record/Brian Soutar camp to Stop Gay Sex Lessons.

By: Bill Fraser

Bill Fraser — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 09:09:18 +0000

Why would the Scottish people want the only party who are delivering sensible economic policies and defending NHS and welfare (not to mention ensuring our children have the best chance of delivering a decent future for themselves and the country by maintaining free higher education) want the NP to disband? Lamont is of the opinion that it is unfair that our children have free education and not those in England, I agree, but the answer is not to impose fees on our children, but to give it to all children in the UK. That of course is not going to happen with UK politics dominated by the parties of Westminster and the South East. It is not the SNP that is in danger of self destructing in Scotland, it is the unionist parties that are failing to understand that the Scottish electorate recognise that the only way to improve our situation is to take control of our own destiny.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 09:06:17 +0000

It’s a nice idea to split the YES campaign away from the SNP so that the SNP can get on with post-independence policy development. Something they have had 60 years to do, but never too late huh.

But the vote will rest on answering practical questions. How much will it cost to run 2 DVLAs? What will happen to the BBC? Will my pension get paid? What currency will we use? What happens to my mortgage with the Nationwide? Will my employer keep our office open? Will we lose our customers?

If the YES campaign fails to answer these questions satisfactorily then or decides that this is the job for a post-independence SNP then the referendum promises to be a fiasco.

If they can answer them satisfactorily I might even be tempted to vote yes… (no holding my breathe)

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 08:56:13 +0000

Type your comment here

Jeff: Good point.

I think even Johann would acknowledge that she was the last man (wumin) standing and was put into an invidious position. She is doing okay, and much better than expected, but Labour needs to get a few more good people back into Holyrood. But I reckon it's a ten year process.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 22:09:53 +0000

Good point.

By: Elaine

Elaine — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 21:54:53 +0000

Is there perhaps more wishful thinking going on here than reality, by those who are anti-SNP?
Is this actually another Unionist ploy to try and shift the goalposts, introduce some paranoia and attempt to shoogle the SNP off its firm pedestal in Govt.?
Is this just another scare-mongering question being asked by anti-SNP folk, to try and garner some Labour resurgence, to give ex-WM MPs and the like some hope for power, post independence?
If we can foresee at least a decade of SNP rule post independence, then what will those poor, unemployed WM MPs do with themselves?

The SNP would be mad to disband now it has real power and Independence in its grasp. So after fighting for Independence for decades, it just rolls over and lets the Unionist parties take over???
The SNP is not called the Scottish “Hope for Independence” Party.
It is the “Scottish National Party” and in a new Scottish Nation then that seems rather an apt name for a political party IMO.