300 years of the Union
Today marks the 300th anniversary of the Acts of Union when the English and Scottist Parliaments combined into a single Parliament at Westmintser. Ironically, in just two days time, we might see the most serious threat to the Union since its creation.
As I explained in this posting, on Thursday there is an election to the Scottish Parliament when the Scottish National Party looks likely to replace the Labour Party as the largest single party, elected on a manifesto promising a referendum on Scottish independence.
In fact, even if the SNP takes power and even if a referendum is held, I cannot see it securing a majority vote for independence. We could be in the situation that Canada has experienced with Quebec nationalists winning the provincial elections but failing to win a referendum for independence.
However, the debate about independence could be divisive and I look foward to a time when borders mean less not more. It is this sentiment that is behind my essay “A Question For Our Age”.
May 1st, 2007 at 12:11 pm
You’re a Labour party member if I recall, but it’s a shame you’re re-using the Labour party’s negative campaign tactic that the SNP are ‘the most serious threat to the Union’, rather than the leading opposition party with a wider set of policies than that – even if it is a central one.
I certainly don’t see it that simply. I see the SNP as the only serious alternative to Labour in my constituency and the region as a whole, and I see Labour as having wasted two opportunities in (effective) power. Their campaign, and track record – on Scottish issues and on the wider issues that are inevitable in ‘by-elections’ – has left me feeling they are entirely undeserving of my vote. The Liberals – a party I’m normally supportive of – have struggled to distinguish themselves and aren’t enough of a force in my constituency, but may still get my regional vote.
Labour have really also run a thoroughly derisory campaign and have a poor candidate in my constituency. But all in all they’ve treated the electorate like children. Their leader here (and in the UK as a whole) is tired and lack-lustre, and their policies entirely uninspiring: It’s a *very* negative campaign, and I refuse to support that approach. I want ideas and enthusiasm. Something the other parties have in bucket loads. Labour will still do well: This is one of their heart-lands after all.
But I disagree that the likely SNP win should be seen as a vote supporting Independence. Yes, it’s a part – and no doubt what the media will report to the rest of the country – but as you say there’s no widespread support on that issue, and reflects badly (in my view) on the reporters for not reflecting what has been quite a varied campaign on many issues other than Scottish Independence (despite what the Labour party might say)
Certainly I don’t support it at all, and there are many others like me. The SNP made a prudent move in becoming more mainstream, and making the Independence issue less central in their campaign. Comparable perhaps to Clause 4? But I don’t see that the pledge to hold a referendum as being a problem in itself. At least it’d allow the issue to be debated in direct terms, rather than implying something out of a parliamentary vote.
Needless to say, I’ve got a post in the offing on my website which will go over my view of the campaign and how I intend to vote…