Divorced From Reality; Scottish independence "will become inevitable" says former Labour minister Malcolm Chisholm, new poll blip rattles former MSP as he raises the spectre of more UK Conservative Governments, the problems in Scotland are down to a weak opposition unable to carry their load and present a cohesive vision of Scotland in the UK

Dear All

They say with age comes wisdom, if you look at the track record of some former politicians, age just ushers in stupidity. I am constantly amazed how people like Malcolm Chisholm, a former Scottish Labour minister get selected in the first place. Chisholm says that Scottish independence is “inevitable” if the UK elects another Conservative Government.

This is the spectre of a Boris Johnson premiership!

Given the state of Scottish Labour and the Labour Party in general, it is possible that the next government could be a Conservative one, equally likely, it is highly possible that the next government could be operating in a hung parliament. The sands of politics have shifted, just as the SNP have little opposition in Scotland, the Brexit Party could see their fortunes rise in England. This will be at the expense of the Labour heartlands in the North of England which voted solid Brexit.

Chisholm also says that he may well vote Yes himself to Scottish independence, if he thinks that a bogeyman will scare people back to Labour Party to continue the old two party system, he is misjudging what is going on in politics. Our political system on both sides of the border is broken.

Trust between the people and the political class is broken which show the spectacular rise of the Brexit Party in such a short time, they cashed in on an emotional and angry public which has been failed. Our political class is ebbing support day by day because the people who elected them have been neglected by them. Another failed experiment has been the rise of Multiculturalism, coupled with destructive identity politics chanting the mantra of discrimination in order to secure power.

People don’t believe that politicians will make people’s lives better whether it be health, education or community.

As to Malcolm Chisholm, who was health minister in the early years of devolution, he thinks Brexit and the state of the Conservatives had given “a great impetus” to the independence movement. He wrong thinks a minor surge means progress, while the same lack of a surge towards the Labour Party must be the cause of lack of support. In parroting the Sturgeon line, he said:

“Faced with Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, who’s not much better, and Brexit and the possibility of a no-deal, a lot of people are thinking ‘What is the point of staying connected to that?’”

So, what Conservative leader is acceptable to Malcolm Chisholm?

The answer appears to be none, and if it is none, his own scaremongering tactics are just pitiful, naturally the SNP jumped in to say that this nonsense by Chisholm is a "significant intervention" from a respected figure.

Horseshit!

Polls go up and down; a new one is showing support for independence at 49 per cent because of uncertainty down south over who will lead the UK government. The constant doom and gloom being spewed out by the SNP and their allies has had an effect, but what they aren’t telling you is the future!

Because they don’t know the future, they just try to engineer their views on a public which is bombarded with fake news by them.

Chisholm told the press;

“I would go as far as to say if we have continuing Conservative governments independence will become inevitable. I might in future vote for independence but it would totally depend on what the situation was and what the alternatives on offer were in terms of the UK. If we had continuing Conservative government I think Scotland would vote for independence and I think I would as well - but that’s quite a big ‘if’.”

So, he would consider max austerity as a solution to Scotland’s problems?

How exactly does that help anyone?

Ask yourself this, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon says that Scotland is a rich country, and in the same breath says that austerity budgets will be needed for circa decade, both propositions cannot be true.

What the SNP is offering is not independence, however they are offering poverty, they are offering cutting services, health, education and council, they are offering to be ruled by Brussels so they can get plugged into the European political network. And while they hatch and scheme, the people of Scotland will suffer but that won’t affect them with their taxpayer funded lifestyles.

Chisholm says that devolution had caused "almost inevitable momentum towards more power" for the Scottish Parliament. He added it meant the "only two futures for Scotland" were either greater powers or independence.

He said:

“The only question is whether it stops at some sort of enhanced devolution or devo max or whether it goes towards independence. Those are the only two futures for Scotland now really. I think independence is likely anyway because of the way people under 50 vote, but I think a Corbyn kind of government that was actually achieving what it set out to achieve would certainly delay that process - whereas if we have a Conservative government elected - whoever is leader - at the next election, I would say independence is pretty inevitable.”

The Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times prompted pollster Professor Sir John Curtice to comment at the weekend:

“It seems that the days when unionists could claim with confidence that Scots do not want another independence referendum any time soon may have come to an end.”

The reason for why we are in this state is the sorry state of the opposition parties who haven’t got their act together. They aren’t offering a vision, they aren’t appealing to the working classes who have been left behind; they aren’t producing real policies of note. Is it any wonder that a surge happens, I think not!    

But let us return to reality for a minute, the SNP claim support and momentum which doesn’t really exist, for example they raged on lack of Scottish content by the BBC, a long campaign. The BBC gave them their wish a ‘Scottish’ channel, 21 of the new BBC Scotland Programmes had NO viewers. Another interesting bit of reality is Scots outside the central belt ‘failed by devolution’. A new television documentary on 20 years of devolution suggests the Scottish Parliament has focused too much on the Central Belt and failed to do enough for people in Scotland’s more distant geographical locations.

Finally, age hasn’t brought wisdom to Malcolm Chisholm but he did manage to cause a stir by talking up nonsense. The reality is Brexit is going to happen, the Labour Party needs to get on board with that concept. In Scotland, the Scottish Labour Party needs to go down the road of getting it acts together for a ‘cull’ like they did at Glasgow City Council, they also need to be reformed, but not by the same people who led to its decline. People will come back to Labour if they can trust the party, trust the elected people and have a vision, it isn’t rocket science.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University