Dear All
It seems that there is a string of pro-independence
groups which appear to have one thing in common.
Run and operated by people in the Scottish
National Party.
These are seen by many as phoney little
groups, recently an ex Yes Scotland employee outed the worse kept secret in
politics, Yes Scotland is an SNP front.
Run by the SNP, staffed by the SNP for the
benefit of the SNP.
Now more little groups are coming along,
they too are connected to the SNP which is putting pressure on referendum watchdogs
to block their registration.
So, why are there so many groups?
They are mostly run by SNP members, well
there is an official spending limit.
One way round that is to set up a group,
register with the Electoral Commission and circumvent the rules.
Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond
putting a stop to this, Scotland unpopular Deputy First Minster Nicola Sturgeon
putting a stop to this, anyone in the Scottish National Party speaking out?
No, No and No!
Under the referendum rules, permitted
participants are allowed to spend up to £150,000 campaigning in the final 16
weeks before the vote.
And all these groups will all be saying the
exact same message, the public want a fair contest, and they will certainly
punish cheats if they think they are being used.
The permitted participant cash does not
count towards total of Yes Scotland.
And it should, they have a limit of £1.5
million to spend.
But that limit is provided they and other
Yes Groups don’t work together or co-ordinate their activity.
Three other pro-Yes groups are either in
the process of registering or have signalled their intention to apply to the
Electoral Commission.
One of the new ones is Christians for
independence, their convener is Dave Thmopson, who is he?
He is an SNP MSP.
It is apparent that there will not be a
level playing field.
Tory MSP John Lamont said:
"We cannot have the situation where
organisations are being set up simply to break the rules and spend money over
and above the limits set for the campaigns. The Yes camp cannot credibly claim
that they are not working with groups like Business for Scotland.
"The money that is being spent must
come off the Yes Scotland total."
Business for Scotland!
Outed as having SNP members at its core!
Lamont added:
"Now that groups are registering as
permitted participants in the referendum, we have to have confidence that the
rules are being followed."
Next up to look at is the Scottish
Independence Convention is chaired by actress Elaine C Smith.
She is on the board of Yes Scotland and she
also goes to SNP events.
Also part of the Scottish Independence
Convention is Shona McAlpine, she works for Muslim list SNP MSP Humza Yousaf.
Other groups, Women for Independence, Scots
Asians for Yes, Yes LGBT, Farmers for Yes, Labour for Independence and the
Scottish Independence Convention, all have SNP connected to them.
However, Yes Scotland stressed it was
"not an umbrella organisation in the strict sense".
Their Yes branches are more or less SNP
branches campaigning under another name.
In a gaffe, they have since confirmed:
"We have effectively been representing
other campaigners since the campaign has properly begun."
Yes Scotland also helped set up a number of
groups, including Academics for Yes, Polish for Yes and Crofting for Yes.
Better Together has not allowed its local
or interest groups to have their own bank accounts in a bid to comply with
Electoral Commission rules.
It seems that they are willing to play fair
even in the face of what some will see as electoral abuse, of course election
fraud isn’t new in the Scottish National Party, one SNP Cllr Alex MacLeod was
recently convicted of being an election cheat, and he worked for Alex Salmond
in his office.
An Electoral Commission spokeswoman said:
"The rules on campaigning at the
Scottish Independence Referendum during the referendum period between May 30
and September 18 are clearly set out in law. It's the responsibility of
campaigners to comply with the rules.
"We're already working with those who
have registered as permitted participants and other campaigners to help them
understand and follow the campaigning rules and published clear guidance for
campaigners last December. The Electoral Commission's priority is to ensure
that voters have confidence in the referendum outcome and we are ready to deal
appropriately with any breach of the rules."
It is clear that Alex Salmond and unpopular
Nicola Sturgeon have no intention of stopping what is going on with their
members which strangely all seems co-ordinated.
That being the case, Better Together might
see many Pro Uk Groups register, the idea as I previously blogged about having
little phoney groups was a bad idea.
Yet again, stupidity have won over from
common sense were the SNP are concerned.
The revelations of phoney little Yes/SNP
groups aren’t new; but are a remarkable low brow tactic which will ultimately
blow up in the faces of Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.
No one likes cheats.
I just think the SNP leadership of Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon is completely lacking in integrity.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
2 comments:
By condemning certain Yes campaigners as 'cheats' and 'vile people' you belittle your argument. No matter what side of the political fence you find yourself on, if you wish to be taken seriously as a commentator I suggest you temper your language.
I'm afraid your vitriol says more about you than it does about your views. I imagine your splenetic diatribe will probably have the opposite effect on your readers to the one you are hoping for.
BTW a fair minded person would publish this response.
Your bilious tripe has finally convinced me that I need to vote Yes. Thanks. Keep up the good work.
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