As Scotland apparently prepares to shoot itself (and the UK) in the head, the Westminster political class in its panic seems to have misplaced what remains of its collective brain. Prime Minister’s Questions today has been cancelled as all three party leaders rushed to Scotland to persuade the Scots to vote No to independence. Quite apart from the obvious fact that, if the Scots are voting No in large measure because they loathe Westminster politicians and don’t believe a word they say it follows that anything Cameron et al now utter will thus only increase the Yes vote still further, the message they are proposing to deliver is based on a spectacular illogicality. For their pitch is all about how the United Kingdom will be diminished if Scotland departs. But by definition, if Scottish people want to leave the UK they won’t care if it is diminished. What Westminster is actually saying is that England, along with Wales and Northern Ireland, will be diminished. But why should Scottish separatists care about the fate of England when they self-evidently wish to renounce it? Cameron is telling the Scots: “We desperately want you to stay”. But why should the separatist-minded Scots care what England and the rest of the UK want, however desperately? The question is not whether the UK is “better together, but what the Scots might recognise they will correspondingly gain by remaining united with England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The answer, from the politicians who for decades have been tearing up the British national identity to which the Scottish people have made such a key contribution, is that Scotland will effectively be given – other than over defence and foreign affairs – Home Rule. So Westminster’s answer to Scotland’s question, “What’s in it for us if we stay under Westminster rule rather than depart?’ is “Less Westminster rule”. And this proposition is supposed to persuade the Scots away from independence? Truly, it makes you want to weep. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2749959/DAVID-CAMERON-Our-union-precious-Don-t-tear-apart.html
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 11:28:50 +0000
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