Days ago, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon indicated her openness to another Scottish Independence referendum this year, but only if her party does well in the May elections. The British papers have been full of dire warnings and bitchy stories about Sturgeon, which is how you know her threat has teeth. As many have pointed out, Sturgeon took the pandemic seriously and was early to adopt widespread measures to curb infection rates. While her actions weren’t perfect – no country has been perfect – she did more than Boris Johnson did, and she made smarter choices overall. Plus, there’s the issue of Brexit and how Scotland doesn’t actually want to leave the EU. So here we are, with Boris Johnson spending the day in Scotland and trying to tamp down Scottish independence fervor. The problem is that Scottish people keep calling the police to say that BoJo is breaking Scottish lockdown. LOL.
Boris Johnson got the all-clear to visit Scotland today from police after independence-supporting nationalists tried to report the Prime Minister for breaching lockdown rules. Police Scotland said it had received several complaints after the Prime Minister flew from London in an RAF jet to Glasgow in defiance of Nicola Sturgeon’s warning to stay away. But it said that Mr Johnson’s trip was a ‘working visit in his official capacity as Prime Minister’ of the United Kingdom, and officers were ‘policing the event appropriately’.
Mr Johnson is extolling the virtues of the union amid alarm that the separatist case has been gaining traction, with polls showing Ms Sturgeon is seen as having handled the pandemic much better. He was shown around the ‘Lighthouse’ hub for PCR samples at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital this morning and later met British Army soldiers setting up a vaccination centre in Castlemilk.
The SNP decried the trip as that of ‘a Prime Minister in panic’, but Number 10 defended the visit, with a spokesman saying such trips were a ‘fundamental part’ of his job. The PM insisted the UK’s response to the pandemic – including the huge vaccine rollout – showed the value of the union as he travelled north of the border despite the First Minister swiping that it is not an ‘essential’ trip.
As the government hammers home the case for staying together, it has been announced that a vaccine plant is getting up and running in Scotland that could supply the UK with 60million doses by the end of the year. A series of surveys have put backing for breaking up the UK at up to 57 per cent – with the nationalists demanding a fresh referendum as early as this year and threatening to hold a ‘wildcat’ vote if Mr Johnson does not give permission.
Surely if the government is that worried about Scottish independence, they could just task Prince William and Kate with another super-spreader tour and allow them to wander around maskless again? LMAO. The exact same thing happened when the Keens went to Scotland last month, there were Scots “informing” on them for breaking lockdown. It’s been downhill ever since! Anyway, is it completely wrong of me to root for Scottish independence? I feel like BoJo and the British press wouldn’t be this panicked about it unless it was actually a good idea which would benefit Scotland.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
oh I am so hoping for an independent Scotland! and while we are at it #AbolishTheMonarchy!
Subscribing to #AbolishTheMonarchy after Petty Betty is gone.
To be honest… I think he has the worst strategy planners of all the planet. Sort of a British Trump team.
Any time he or Smugg set their foot in Scotland, the independence polls have a higher percentage of yes.
If he’s worried about ‘Scexit’, the best strategy would be to stay in London. Sort of “the distance makes you heart grow fonder”.. and the Scots forget how bad you are. Not a luxury we have in England atm.
I was over there when the first referendum was happening; I was sad to see that it didn’t get the votes then. At the time, John Oliver did a great segment on it: https://youtu.be/-YkLPxQp_y0
I hope it goes to referendum again. I hope they get the votes.
Thank you for that link. I’m keen on independence. Let’s see how that goes.
I think they know if Scotland pulls it off, it’s not a huge leap to say “hey why do we need a queen?”
I disagree. Little Englanders fear change. The monarchy represents tradition and the “way we’ve always done things”. I expect if Scotland leaves, there is little chance people will want to lose the monarchy.
Good luck to any Scots wanting independence. I hope the referendum is successful for you and you can rejoin the EU
If they get independence does Petty Betty still get to spend summers there or would she need to find somewhere else to vacation?
This is nothing more than PR stunting from both of them – she is under a lot of pressure for various scandals and as always is using Brexit/independence as a distraction. She is no better than Boris.
Scandals are:
– Trans people are leaving the SNP (her party) in droves due to rampant transphobia which has been going unchecked for a loooong time. She was on twitter saying she knew nothing about it but have seen reports saying she did
– She and her husband face accusations of withholding information from the Scottish Parliament enquiry into the Alex Salmond sexual assault allegations. She and her husband are accused of interfering in the judicial process as well as lying about conversations and meetings she had with Salmond over the allegations. The enquiry into the Scottish gov conduct has complained about her stonewalling. Her husband is the CEO of the SNP
– Financial mismanagement, particularly around the order of 2 new ferries which went massively over budget. The company that built them went bust and they are now sitting in the docks rusting. Costs so far is about £300 mill (original cost for the both of them was £97mill and they are 4 years late). An enquiry by her own gov called out how badly the whole thing was managed
– Hospital bed clearing of old and vulnerable people into care homes. She and her health minister have been caught out more than once doing this (even after they said they would stop it), patients are being transferred to care homes without being tested and the result has been that many people caught COVD and passed
– The vaccination rollout in Scotland has been slower than the rest of the country, she waited about 3 weeks from the first vaccine delivery to start giving it to people
– Many small businesses in Scotland have not yet received the COVID relief funding that was giving by Westminster to her gov to help them
Today she’s been threatening to release sensitive information relating to the UK’s vaccination schedule which is a blatant attempt to curry favour with the EU who are currently arguing with AstraZeneca over order volumes. The EU were caught with their pants down because of delays with contracts and approving the vaccine (still not approved) and are trying to bully AstraZeneca into diverting vaccines from the UK plant to the EU because the UK supply chain is problem free while the EU supply chain has issues. ALL countries are seeing their orders cut dramatically and the EU are kicking off demanding that they get all that they were promised. Even Pfizer is struggling to meet demand. The EU wrongly assumed that as soon as they approved it they’d start getting their orders even thou they were already told about the delays from both pharma companies.
I am Scottish and follow politics back home closely. If Scotland does get independence it will first have to sort out its massive national debt before the EU will entertain them joining and instead of being told what to do from Westminster they will be told what to do by unelected officials in Brussels. And as a small country their voice won’t be heard – just look at how the smaller eastern European countries are treated by the bigger boys in the EU. FYI – I’m a remainer but this is in response to what SNP are saying, Scotland will not be an equal partner in the EU, too small.
“She is no better than Boris.”
But her emails… see how that panned out.
You’re a Scottish person in England , so maybe, so let me tell you… from northern England, that if the Scots don’t go… they’re morons.
Mind you, indyref2 will have to wait a decade, because Doris Boreson is not going to let them have one for like 10 years minimum.
I will not address the anti-EU stuff as, at least in this case, they’re right.
@AlpineWitch thanks for the smile.
I’m not sure you do follow politics up here all that closely if you really think that Independence is even in question any more. Your “scandals” are reaches at best.
As for Boris… keep talking, pal. Every time he opens his mouth he proves our case even more.
I really am beginning to find the arguments against Scottish independence patronising and shitty. As if this desire to separate is noting more than sour grapes, but the grown ups know that this country could never REALLY stand on it’s feet. Why be part of an isolationist Britain when Scotland could actually take part in an increasingly global economy? Why cling to the southern boarder when they could potentially be part of the EU again? Yes, it’s always going to be tough to be truly independent when you exist next to a more populous nation with a bigger economy – I’m Canadian, I get it. But from the same thought… when a big country is going through some STUFF, sometimes it’s nice to just be the liberal, northern neighbour, quietly doing it’s own thing and making new friends.
As an Argentinian, this makes my blood boil. When it comes to the Malvinas, it’s all about the wishes of the inhabitants. “They want to be British, you know? We must support them!”. This doesn’t seem to apply to the Scots though.
To be honest I wish he HAD extolled some virtues of the union… his only argument is the tired “once in a generation” tripe which was a throwaway comment meant to impress on voters that they *may* not get another chance soon — in no way was it ever a commitment to the union. To pretend that the matter was settled in 2014, utterly ignoring the un democratic chaos of Brexit that’s happened since is an absolute insult to Scottish voters and luckily, a majority of us (proven through consistent polls over the past year) now see that.
Long time lurker…..13 years, first post. Here goes.
As a Scot living in Scotland I am compelled to state that poll after poll in the last 3 to 6 months has shown a consistent winning margin for Scottish independence. This is fact.
To address Digital Unicorn’s post above…..a vote for independence is NOT a vote for the SNP. Time and again, whenever this site posts a story about Scottish independence, without fail you list the faults and flaws of the Scottish First Minister and the SNP. You are missing the point.
And for the record, to be clear, I am a Scottish Green supporter who also advocate and will campaign for independence.
When Scotland becomes a independent country the Scottish electorate will decide who is in Government….it could be any party…..it does not have to be SNP. It could be a completely new party, hell it could even be the Conservative party. The point being the people of Scotland decide. Self-determination. This is the point.
Plus as a Scot living in England you don’t get a vote on this.
The arguments against Scottish independence are increasingly null and void. In 2021 the possibility of the union thriving is dead in the water and can no longer compete with the idea of a independent nation thriving. We are not too wee, too poor.
ScottishKirsten and Southside girl 👏👏👏
Given the current political landscape, a vote for independence is indeed a vote for the SNP. The Green Party does not have the numbers to be a strong enough challenger even though in some areas the ideas are much better than the other main parties. It’s impossible to differentiate between the SNP and the cause for Scottish independence as they have pretty much taken ownership of it and that is something that has become entrenched not only in the public’s mind but also the media narrative. Good luck trying to separate that.
Sturgeon is not the leader that the press make her out to be hence why I make those posts. I will give that she is more media savvy/polished than Johnson and the Cambridges but lets be honest that’s not hard. She and the party are not fit to lead but given there are no strong alternatives in Scotland they stay in power. For me, the SNP has NO credible plan for independence, particularly around the economy and currency. The last vote was chaotic and left more questions than answers – a follow up report commissioned by the SNP to address those issues wasn’t any clearer on how they were going to achieve/transition to independence. They have no clue.
Also I did not say Scotland was too wee and poor to be independent – I said that in order to meet the entry requirements of the EU it needs to reduce the national debt/deficit and the current entry requirement is 3% of the GDP. Last tax year Scotland’s deficit was about 10% of its GDP; Scotland spends more than it raises in tax. Also Scotland would be a small fish in the big pond that is the EU bloc – we would only be one of 28 other nations. If Scotland were to become independent I think it would be better off not going for full membership but instead looking at the other membership models that other smaller countries have and only if a referendum was given on the subject.
Scotland does have wealth (esp in oil and renewable energy) but independence does come with a price tag and Scotland would have to align tax and public spending to sustainable levels to lessen the financial hit of independence. As it stands Scotland has high public spending and low tax, and given the North Sea revenue at current levels heavy austerity would also have to be put in place. An independent Scotland would mean everyone paying much more tax or having much less public spending – am not sure either of these options or the middle ground option of aligning tax and public spending would fly with the voting public, particularly given the current situation. These are tough decisions that have to be made and the question is – is it palatable to the Scottish people? You could argue that those who voted for Brexit were prepared to take the same risks and look where we are.
Of course Scotland has the right to self determination but the people also have the right to know what they are getting themselves into, making an informed choice, knowing all the facts and risks, understanding the impact and be prepared to make sacrifices. Voting for independence to ‘fk the Tories’ is pretty much Brexit all over again, with people voting to leave to ‘fk the EU’. Scotland is better than that or at least I thought we were.
You’ve argued yourself into a dead end.
Your last paragraph describes the independence referendum. A moment in history where people will inform themselves and then make a choice. That is exactly what is happening.
I think you will find that Scotland as a country is pretty much like this site – the majority sees independence as a positive that will happen.
A country that can’t borrow does not have debt. Further, however strong your opinion that Independence and the SNP are interchangeable is, it’s simply not correct. You just can’t dismiss the political landscape of a country that doesn’t exist yet — a lot of people hold their nose to vote SNP for the bigger picture of Independence. You’ve maybe been living in London too long!
I think Scotland will become independent and join the EU, and Northern Ireland will join the Republic in the next decade. Brexit isn’t doing either any favors.
Hope you are right Shannon.