[COMMENT] IAN BELL: DECEIT WONT WORK NEXT TIME The parties that bore the Better Together banner were as cunning as they were dishonest. By promising more while failing to say what more might mean, they promised nothing. Or rather, they promised a timetable for discussions to see if something could come from nothing. Three party leaders turned this into a vow in the Daily Record two days before the vote. Meanwhile, all pretended that Gordon Brown spoke for anyone other than Kirkcaldys Labour voters. In one sense, those who voted Yes cant complain. How can we claim the vow has been broken when we all said, on September 16 and after, that it was meaningless verbiage, a bare restatement of minimal commitments from people with no intention of delivering? The trio vouched that extensive new powers would come. They didnt name one. They welded NHS boilerplate to Barnett and the Scotland Act. Short of adding caveat emptor as a footnote, they couldnt have said less. The tiny triumvirate created an impression. They deceived voters looking for reassurance - with a press release done up as holy writ - without putting deceit into words. You might wonder about people who do that. Vote No, said the actual text, and you vote for a commitment to a noble timetable, plus whatever might emerge from our bickering on the other side of a General Election campaign. Politely, it was sleight of hand. heraldscotland/comment/columnists/westminster-be-warned-deceit-wont-work-next-time.25617760
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 06:33:46 +0000
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