Reading most of the national
press over the past few days, we could all be forgiven for thinking that in ten
days time the Scottish people will almost certainly take the irreversible
decision to bring an end to the 300-year-old political and economic Union that
has tied the peoples of England and Scotland together, in what is widely
regarded as the world's most successful national partnership.
Quite whether the time is right
to dissolve this historic union is open to debate, although it is clear that
there is much underlying antagonism on the part of some Scottish Nationalists,
who would make and have consistently made the argument that Scotland is and has
been the subject of what is fundamentally blatant English colonialism for the
past three centuries, even though the evidence would tend to suggest otherwise.
As has been pointed out by much
more knowledgeable scholars of the subject, the mainstays of Scottish
nationalism, its culture, language, legal system and educational systems have
remained largely outside of English control or influence throughout the period
of the Union, ostensibly in recognition of the historic differences that have
always existed and will continue to exist between the two neighbouring countries.
For anyone to suggest that Scotland has somehow been cleansed of its Celtic
cultural, legal or educational heritage by the creeping Anglo-Saxon influence
of England is surely an absurd argument to make, especially when so much of
Scotland's current cultural heritage has been actively shaped by the Scottish
people themselves.
At the same time of course
another great complaint from the nationalist corner, is that the lives,
incomes, jobs, environments and communities of every Scottish citizen are being
ruled over and trampled upon by the foreign English parliament that sits in
Westminster, even though that same particular parliament happens to be made up
of assorted Scotsmen, Welshmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, although clearly not
in equal numbers. It also seems to have escaped the Scots Nationalists notice
that significant numbers of their countrymen have held high office within that
same British Parliament, with very few complaints having been made about the 11
former British Prime Ministers who were either Scottish born or of Scottish
extraction. Neither was there much of a fuss made about the hundreds of
Scottish MP's who have held ministerial office over the period of the 300 years
that the union has been in place, whose own government's policies, whether as
part of a Labour or Conservative administration have directly affected Scotland
and its people, for better or for worse.
What seems to be the most
puzzling, is the idea, the theory, or even the widely held belief that Scotland
has in some way been treated much more badly by successive Westminster
governments than just about anywhere else in the British Isles, a firmly held
view in the minds of some Scottish nationalists that appears to have little or
no basis in fact. One of the most voiced criticisms levelled by the nationalist
cause is that Margaret Thatcher's ruthless de-industrialisation of Britain
during the 1980's was somehow aimed specifically at Scotland and its native
industries, when in fact virtually every industrial centre in the country
suffered a similar fate, not just Scotland. Then there is the issue of the
ill-conceived Poll Tax, which some nationalists continue to carry around, as if
it resembles the mark of a martyr state, forgetting of course that every single
area of the country was eventually forced to bear the crippling costs of the
poll tax, until such time as it was finally abandoned by a later Conservative
government.
These events haven't made
Scotland in anyway unique or unusual, they just make it representative of a much
wider and larger Britain that has experienced truly tumultuous times over the
period of the past 40 years or so. Are the Scots more deserving, or more
aggrieved, or more deserving than those Britons who live and work in other hard
hit areas of Britain, in the North East, the North West, in Wales, in Northern
Ireland? No, they are not! But maybe they just choose to believe that they are?
Increasingly it seems, there is a tendency for certain areas of the country,
certain groups, to regularly claim that they are being specifically mistreated,
demeaned or discriminated against by the powers that be, when in reality they
are being treated as well, or as badly, as millions of their fellow citizens.
The truth is that these semi-professional whingers seem to believe that they
deserve special consideration when tough socio-economic decisions are having to
be made by various national governments; that only they should be exempt from
the pain, whilst their fellow citizens living elsewhere in the United Kingdom
are not.
During the current Scottish
independence campaign, which has been marked by claim and counter-claim on both
sides of the argument, one thing has become abundantly clear, no-one really
knows how well, or how badly an independent Scottish economy will fare once it
is exposed to the chill winds of the international markets. Either way though,
it seems to be the case that should the Scottish people choose to go their own
way and vote for independence, then the subsequent separation between Scotland
and the remaining parts of Britain should be absolute; if only to ensure that
there can be no going back on the decision once it is made. Geographical
neighbours we may have to be, but should the Scottish people choose to cast
aside our historic relationship, then that should be an end to it for once and
for all.
As it is, it appears that our
political elite are now so horrified at the prospect of a "YES" vote
in the forthcoming Scottish referendum that they are fully prepared to offer
any and all sorts of incentives to the Scottish people, in return for their
rejecting outright independence. Whether or not these offers of Devolution Max
or Home Rule is sufficient to assuage the separatist cause will only be known
after the public vote in just over a week's time, but even if it is, just how
much damage will such blatant bribery have done to the wider social fabric of
Britain generally? Why should the peoples of England, Wales and Northern
Ireland accept that Scottish citizens are granted more autonomy than them? Why
should they be expected to act as insurers of Scotland's future prosperity,
when they have little or no influence over the political management of this new
semi-autonomous state? Why should the Bank of England become the "lender
of last resort" for what is essentially a foreign state? Such offers, or
considerations shouldn't or wouldn't normally be offered, but given the level
of political panic amongst the three traditional parties in Westminster, we now
have the completely absurd situation whereby the Conservatives, Labour and the
Lib Dems are essentially offering the Scottish electorate a blank cheque on
possible new executive powers, in order to keep them in the Union. Quite what
the English, Welsh and Northern Irish electorates will make of such possible
power transfers remains to be seem, but the fact that they haven't even been
consulted on such measures must be causing a great deal of concern amongst the
60-odd million British citizens who live outside of Scotland's national
borders; and who would doubtless be directly affected by such changes, but have
no say in them.
It is surely a legitimate demand
that English, Welsh and Northern Irish revenues should only be spent on
English, Welsh and Northern Ireland's national needs, rather than those of an
partially independent nation, which just happens to be attached to England's
northern border. Why should a taxpayer in London, Belfast or Cardiff see their
hard earned money sent to and spent in Edinburgh, when there is so much to be
done in their own British cities? If Scotland wants all the trappings and the
paraphernalia of an independent nation state then surely it is only right that
Scottish taxpayers alone should meet the cost of such institutions and
accoutrements? Similarly, if Scotland's native population, commercial investors
and local businesses want to guarantee their own national currency, be that the
pound or anything else, then surely it is not unreasonable for them to have to
establish their own financial institutions, regulators and central bank, rather
than choosing to rely on a historic relationship that they themselves have
chosen to turn their backs on.
No doubt like many others in
England, Wales and Northern Ireland, I cannot wait for the Scottish
Independence referendum campaign to come to an end; and for the Scottish
population to finally deliver their verdict, whichever side of the argument
they ultimately decide to come down on. At least by the 20th September 2014 the
entire country should have gained some degree of certainty over what the future
holds, both for Scotland itself and for the remaining parts of Britain. If
nothing else, the Scottish peoples true feelings towards the Union will have
been exposed for what it is, for good or ill; in that it will have been seen as
being valuable, or valueless. It is probably only after the Scots have
expressed their view on the subject that we will finally begin to see the views
and opinions of the real British majority, the bulk of the population who live
in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; and who have not been permitted a vote
over the future, of what is after all, their Union too!
In some ways there is undoubtedly
an argument that it would be best perhaps if the Scottish nationalists were to
triumph in the current referendum campaign, if only because there can be no
going back on the bitterness and division that the independence question has
caused, not only amongst individual families in Scotland, but also between the
four countries that currently make up the United Kingdom. For many, the
nationalist campaign has been fundamentally constructed on a series of publicly
aired historic grievances and personally cynical ill-will, virtually all of
which have been aimed at the majority English population via their elected
representatives in Westminster. Although it remains to be seen whether or not
Scotland will choose to remain part of the Union, perhaps the one certainty of
the entire referendum exercise is that it has left the two main countries in
the alliance, Scotland and England, more divided than at any other time in its
300 year history?
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